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was a busy bright little town; a station on the great road; a garrison for Roman troops; a port for collecting dues by land and lake; a place of tanners, dyers, soap-boilers; a market for oilmen, shepherds, cheesemongers, fruit grocers; a halting ground for the buyers and sellers of every kind, the corn-chandlers, the fishermen, the woolstaplers, the vinters, and the gardeners. Being the first town on the Lake of Tiberias as you ride in from Damascus, as Arena is the first town on Lago Maggiore as you come from Turin, it was the port at which any one coming that way would embark for cities lying south and east on the shore. Standing on a hill of limestone, rough and rich with the flow of the basaltic rocks from higher volcanic hills; having the rich plain and cool lake of Gennesareth at its feet, with the palm, the orange, and the pomegranate blooming everywhere about, Capernaum became, like Come or Palanza nearer home, a retreat for the rich as well as a field of labour for the poor. Most of the Jewish inhabitants, net-makers, fishermen, farmers, were believers in a physical Messiah; followers of Herod, of Judas, of Simon, of John; Jews of an earnest and yet of a most worldly type. The strangers who dwelt among those Jews, like every one trained in the Hellenic schools, were liberal and tolerant in affairs of faith. Had not the Roman governor built a synagogue for the Jews at his own expense? "Capernaum, properly spelt Capharna Hum, was one of the towns most favoured by the Lord. It was the first place to which He came after His baptism by John. There He dwelt for a little while with His early disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John. Here lived the good nobleman whose son He cured. There too He healed the demoniac in the synagogue, relieved the mother-in-law of Peter, healed the man sick of the palsy, and restored the withered hand. There He made whole the centurion's servant, and raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. From the blue waters of the lake He obtained the tribute money, and on its slimy shores, among the brambles and vines, He spoke the parables of the Tares, of the Sower, of the Treasure, of the Merchant, of the Net. In the White Synagogue, built by the Roman soldier, He pronounced His discourses on Faith, on Fasting, on Humility of Spirit, on Brotherly Love. Near to Capernaum He fed the five thousand, walked on the sea, and preached His Sermon on the Mount. He loved the busy, Basaltic town, and after His expulsion from Nazareth He made it the scene of His ministry. In the words of St. Matthew, a native of the place, it became His own city. Where, then, was this favoured spot? Strange to say, the great Churches of East and West, while bent on fixing the sites of events in the sacred story... kept no clear record of the scene of so many miracles and sermons as Capernaum."

(Hepworth Dixon.)

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KJV: These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

WEB: He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.