And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
- KJV He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
- BSB “What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
- NKJV He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? ”
- NLT Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus answers the lawyer's question with a question, directing him to the law he already knows. He invites the man to interpret Scripture rightly.
Overview
Rather than supplying an answer, Jesus points the law-expert back to the very Scriptures he professes to master. The double question asks both what the law says and how he reads it. This honors the authority of God's Word while exposing the man's heart.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Rom 10:5For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- Gal 3:21–22Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
- Gal 3:12–13The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”
- Rom 4:14–16For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 10:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.