Luke 6-8

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Question about the Sabbath

6 One Sabbath^[a] while Jesus^[b] was going through some grain fields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.^{(A) 2} But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful^[c] on the Sabbath?”^{(B) 3} Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(C) 4} How he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?”^{(D) 5} Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

⁶ On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.^{(E) 7} The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see whether he would cure on the Sabbath, so that they might find grounds to bring an accusation against him. ⁸ But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand in the middle.” He got up and stood there.^{(F) 9} Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they were filled with fury and began discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

¹² Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.^{(G) 13} And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:^{(H) 14} Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.^(I)

Jesus Teaches and Heals

¹⁷ He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.^{(J) 18} They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.^(K)

Blessings and Woes

²⁰ Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

²² “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you^[d] on account of the Son of Man.^{(M) 23} Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.^(N)

²⁶ “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.^(Q)

Love for Enemies

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you;^{(R) 28} bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.^{(S) 29} If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again.^{(T) 31} Do to others as you would have them do to you.^(U)

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. ³⁵ Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.^[e] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.^{(V) 36} Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;^{(W) 38} give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”^(X)

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?^{(Y) 40} A disciple is not above the teacher, but every disciple who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.^{(Z) 41} Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;^{(AA) 44} for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush.^{(AB) 45} The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.^(AC)

The Two Foundations

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?^{(AD) 47} I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.^{(AE) 48} That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.^{[f] 49} But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

7 After Jesus^[g] had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.^{(AF) 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.”^{(AG) 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^[h] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.^{(AH) 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.”^{(AI) 14} Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”^{(AJ) 15} The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^[i] 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!”^{(AK) 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^[j] had just then cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits and had given sight to many who were blind.^{(AL) 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.^{(AM) 23} And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

²⁴ When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus^[k] began to speak to the crowds about John:^[l] “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^[m] 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,^[n] having been baptized with John’s baptism.^{(AN) 30} But the Pharisees and the experts in the law, not having been baptized by him, rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)^(AO)

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’;^{(AP) 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!’^{(AQ) 35} Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus^[o] to eat with him, and when he went into the Pharisee’s house he reclined to dine.^{(AR) 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.”^{(AS) 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.^{(AT) 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^[p] 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.^{(AU) 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.^{(AV) 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.”^{(AW) 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.”^(AX)

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,^{(AY) 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,^{(AZ) 3} and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them^[q] 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!”^(BA)

The Purpose of the Parables

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

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹¹ “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.^{(BC) 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.^{(BD) 17} For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.^{(BE) 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.”^(BF)

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.”^(BG)

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,^{(BH) 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.^{(BI) 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,^[t] 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^[u] 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,”^{(BJ) 29} for Jesus^[v] 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.^(BK)

³² Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons^[w] begged Jesus^[x] 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.^(BL)

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.^{(BM) 36} Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.^{(BN) 37} Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes^[y] asked Jesus^[z] to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.^{(BO) 38} The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus^[aa] 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,^[ab] 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^[ac] said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing against you.”^{(BP) 46} But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I noticed that power had gone out from me.”^{(BQ) 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.”^(BR)

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.”^{(BS) 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.”^{(BT) 53} And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But taking her by the hand, he called out, “Child, get up!”^{(BU) 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.^(BV)