Luke 7:1-9:50

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

7 After Jesus^[a] had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.^{(A) 2} A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death. ³ When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, ⁵ for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” ⁶ And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷ therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and, turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”^{(B) 10} When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain

¹¹ Soon afterward^[b] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.^{(C) 12} As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and with her was a large crowd from the town. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, “Do not cry.”^{(D) 14} Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”^{(E) 15} The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^[c] gave him to his mother. ¹⁶ Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”^{(F) 17} This word about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding region.

Messengers from John the Baptist

¹⁸ The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples ¹⁹ and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” ²⁰ When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?’ ” ²¹ Jesus^[d] had just then cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits and had given sight to many who were blind.^{(G) 22} And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight; the lame walk; those with a skin disease are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the poor have good news brought to them.^{(H) 23} And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

²⁴ When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus^[e] began to speak to the crowds about John:^[f] “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵ What, then, did you go out to see? Someone^[g] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶ What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written,

²⁸ “I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,^[h] having been baptized with John’s baptism.^{(I) 30} But the Pharisees and the experts in the law, not having been baptized by him, rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)^(J)

³¹ “To what, then, will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

³³ “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’;^{(K) 34} the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’^{(L) 35} Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus^[i] to eat with him, and when he went into the Pharisee’s house he reclined to dine.^{(M) 37} And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸ She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”^{(N) 40} Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” ⁴¹ “A certain moneylender had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.^{(O) 42} When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus^[j] said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴ Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.^{(P) 45} You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.^{(Q) 47} Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”^{(R) 49} But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”^(S)

Some Women Accompany Jesus

8 Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,^{(T) 2} as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,^{(U) 3} and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them^[k] out of their own resources.

The Parable of the Sower

⁴ When a large crowd was gathering, as people were coming to him from town after town, he said in a parable: ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed some fell on a path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rock, and as it grew up it withered for lack of moisture. ⁷ Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸ Some fell into good soil, and when it grew it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^(V)

The Purpose of the Parables

⁹ Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.^{(W) 10} He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets^[l] of the kingdom of God, but to others I speak^[m] in parables, so that

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹¹ “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.^{(X) 12} The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. ¹⁴ As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵ But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance.

A Lamp under a Jar

¹⁶ “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed; rather, one puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.^{(Y) 17} For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.^{(Z) 18} So pay attention to how you listen, for to those who have, more will be given, and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.”^(AA)

The True Kindred of Jesus

¹⁹ Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” ²¹ But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”^(AB)

Jesus Calms a Storm

²² One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out,^{(AC) 23} and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. ²⁴ They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.^{(AD) 25} Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were terrified and amazed and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him?”

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

²⁶ Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes,^[n] which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn^[o] any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,”^{(AE) 29} for Jesus^[p] had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) ³⁰ Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. ³¹ They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.^(AF)

³² Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons^[q] begged Jesus^[r] to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³ Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.^(AG)

³⁴ When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened.^{(AH) 36} Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.^{(AI) 37} Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes^[s] asked Jesus^[t] to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.^{(AJ) 38} The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus^[u] sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

⁴⁰ Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. ⁴¹ Just then there came a man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus’s feet and began pleading with him to come to his house, ⁴² for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying.

As he went, the crowds pressed in on him. ⁴³ Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all she had on physicians,^[v] no one could cure her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. ⁴⁵ Then Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” When they all denied it, Peter^[w] said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.”^{(AK) 46} But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I noticed that power had gone out from me.”^{(AL) 47} When the woman realized that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. ⁴⁸ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”^(AM)

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.”^{(AN) 50} When Jesus heard this, he replied, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.” ⁵¹ When he came to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him, except Peter, John, and James and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² Everyone was weeping and grieving for her, but he said, “Do not cry, for she is not dead but sleeping.”^{(AO) 53} And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But taking her by the hand, he called out, “Child, get up!”^{(AP) 55} Her spirit returned, and she stood up at once, and he directed them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astounded, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.^(AQ)

The Mission of the Twelve

9 Then Jesus^[x] called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,^{(AR) 2} and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.^{(AS) 3} He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey: no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.^{(AT) 4} Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. ⁵ Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”^{(AU) 6} So they departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Herod’s Perplexity

⁷ Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,^{(AV) 8} by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.^{(AW) 9} Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.^(AX)

Feeding the Five Thousand

¹⁰ On their return the apostles told Jesus^[y] all they had done. Then, taking them along, he slipped quietly into a city called Bethsaida.^{(AY) 11} When the crowds found out about it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed to be cured.

¹² The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside to lodge and get provisions, for we are here in a deserted place.” ¹³ But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”^{(AZ) 14} For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so and had them all sit down. ¹⁶ And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.^{(BA) 17} And all ate and were filled, and what was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

¹⁸ Once when Jesus^[z] was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”^{(BB) 19} They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.”^{(BC) 20} Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah^[aa] of God.”^(BD)

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

²¹ He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone,^{(BE) 22} saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”^(BF)

²³ Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.^{(BG) 24} For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.^{(BH) 25} For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves?^{(BI) 26} Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.^{(BJ) 27} Indeed, truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”^(BK)

The Transfiguration

²⁸ Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus^[ab] took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.^{(BL) 29} And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹ They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.^{(BM) 32} Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.^{(BN) 33} Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying.^{(BO) 34} While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen;^[ac] listen to him!”^{(BP) 36} When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.^(BQ)

Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon

³⁷ On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. ³⁸ Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. ³⁹ Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he^[ad] shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” ⁴¹ Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² While he was being brought forward, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

Jesus Again Foretells His Death

While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples,^{(BR) 44} “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.”^{(BS) 45} But they did not understand this saying; its meaning remained concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.^(BT)

True Greatness

⁴⁶ An argument arose among them concerning which one of them was the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side ⁴⁸ and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the least among all of you is the greatest.”^(BU)

Another Exorcist

⁴⁹ John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.”^{(BV) 50} But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”^(BW)