Nazarene (Naz´uh-reen)

A term applied to Jesus in all four of the Gospels and Acts and, in one passage (Acts 24:5), also applied to the early Christians. The Greek word has two different spellings, perhaps deriving from different roots in Hebrew or Aramaic, but both are apparently understood as references to Nazareth, the home of Jesus. In most instances, the NRSV translates the term by the English phrase “of Nazareth” (but cf. Matt 2:23), where it is rendered as “Nazorean”).