And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
Parallel translations
- WEB She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
- BSB She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message.
- NKJV And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
- NASB And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word.
- NLT Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.
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
Mary sits at Jesus' feet to hear his teaching. She takes the posture of a devoted disciple attending to the Lord's word.
Overview
Sitting at a teacher's feet was the place of a learner, a striking role for a woman of that day. Mary's focus on hearing Jesus' word marks her as a true disciple. The detail commends prioritizing attentiveness to Christ above all else.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 8:34Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
- Luke 8:35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
- John 12:3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
- Acts 22:3I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
- Deut 33:3Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
- Luke 2:46And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
- 1 Cor 7:32–40But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
- John 11:1Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
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 10:39 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.