and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up.
- KJV And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
- NKJV And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
- NASB And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all.
- NLT he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.
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
A woman bound for eighteen years by a disabling spirit cannot stand upright. Her long, helpless suffering sets up Jesus' compassionate deliverance.
Overview
Luke attributes her condition to 'a spirit of infirmity,' linking physical disability with the bondage Satan brings into a fallen world. Eighteen years emphasizes the hopelessness of her case apart from Christ. Her inability to straighten herself pictures humanity's helplessness under sin's curse, which only the Lord can lift.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Luke 8:2as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
- Luke 8:27When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothing or lived in a house, but he stayed in the tombs.
- Luke 13:16Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
- Luke 8:43including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Mark 9:21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From childhood,” he said.
- Acts 4:22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
- Ps 6:2Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
- Matt 9:32–33As they were leaving, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to Jesus.
- John 5:5–6One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
- Ps 42:5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.
- Ps 38:6I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
- Ps 146:8the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
- John 9:19–21and asked, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see?”
- Job 2:7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
- Acts 3:2And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.
- Acts 14:8–10In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
- Ps 145:14The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
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 13:11 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.