Israel

Capernaum

Meaning
The name Capernaum comes from the Hebrew Kfar Nahum, village of Nahum, likely tied to a word that expresses comfort. Jesus made this fishing town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee the base of his public ministry, the setting for more miracles and teaching than any other place in the Gospels.
About the place

Capernaum was a fishing village on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, at a crossroads of trade routes between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast. It had its own customs post and a small Roman garrison.

A Roman centurion stationed there loved the Jewish people so much that he funded the construction of the town’s synagogue. It was in that same synagogue that Jesus taught and cast out unclean spirits.

After leaving Nazareth, Jesus went to live in Capernaum and made the town the center of his ministry in Galilee. There he healed the sick, taught the crowds, and called disciples to follow him.

No other place gathers as many episodes from Jesus’ ministry as Capernaum: the healing of the paralyzed man lowered through the roof, the calling of the tax collector Matthew, the discourse on the Bread of Life. The Gospels even call it his own town.

Despite so many miracles, the town did not turn to God, and Jesus warned that its judgment would be harsher than Sodom’s. Capernaum shows that witnessing a miracle is not the same as believing.

Key verses

Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Matthew 4:13

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.

Mark 2:1

And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Matthew 11:23

What happened here

Jesus makes his home in Capernaum

After leaving Nazareth, Jesus settles in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy about the light that would dawn in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Matthew 4:13-16

Healing the demon-possessed man in the synagogue

On a Sabbath, Jesus teaches in the synagogue at Capernaum and frees a man from an impure spirit, leaving the people amazed at his authority.

Mark 1:21-28

Healing Peter’s mother-in-law

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus enters Simon Peter’s house in Capernaum and heals his mother-in-law of a fever. That evening, many others who are sick or demon-possessed are brought to the door and healed.

Mark 1:29-34

Healing the paralyzed man lowered through the roof

Back in Capernaum, Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man whose friends lower him through an opening they make in the roof of the crowded house where Jesus is teaching.

Mark 2:1-12

Calling Matthew the tax collector

Passing the tax booth in Capernaum, Jesus calls Matthew to follow him and later eats at his house with tax collectors and sinners.

Matthew 9:9-13

Healing the centurion’s servant

A Roman centurion stationed in Capernaum asks Jesus to heal his servant from a distance, and Jesus praises his faith as greater than any he has found in Israel.

Matthew 8:5-13

Teaching about the Bread of Life

In the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus declares himself the living bread that came down from heaven, and the teaching is so difficult that many disciples leave him.

John 6:24-59

Warning against the city’s unbelief

Despite witnessing so many miracles, Capernaum does not repent, and Jesus warns that its judgment will be more severe than Sodom’s.

Matthew 11:23-24
Timeline
around AD 27

Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum and makes the city the base of his ministry in Galilee.

around AD 27-28

On the same Sabbath, he heals the demon-possessed man in the synagogue and Peter’s mother-in-law at home.

around AD 28

He heals the paralyzed man lowered through the roof and calls Matthew the tax collector to follow him.

around AD 28-29

Near the second Passover of his ministry, he teaches about the Bread of Life in the synagogue, and many disciples leave him.

around AD 29

He warns against the city’s unbelief, comparing its judgment to Sodom’s.

People linked to this place
J

Jesus

Based his ministry in Galilee here

P

Peter

Had his mother-in-law healed by Jesus

A

Andrew

Lived with Peter in Capernaum

M

Matthew

Was a tax collector called by Jesus

Books where it appears

Matthew

Jesus moves there and performs several miracles in the city

Mark

The base of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, with healings and teaching in the synagogue

Luke

The healing of the servant of the centurion who built the local synagogue

John

The teaching about the Bread of Life, given in the city’s synagogue

The place today
The place today

The ruins of Capernaum stand beside the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, at the site known as Tell Hum. The identification is well established by archaeology and by the similarity between the place’s Arabic name and the city’s ancient name.

The site preserves a white stone synagogue from the early Christian centuries, built over older basalt foundations that many archaeologists associate with a first-century synagogue from Jesus’ time. There is also an octagonal church built over what is believed to be Peter’s house. Franciscans care for the main archaeological site, which is open to visitors.

Today Israel remains a place of intense spiritual and political conflict. Pray that the Jewish people and all who live in the region may recognize in Jesus the light that once shone along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Pray for this nation today: Israel

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