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.
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.
- BSB and a woman there had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was hunched over and could not stand up straight.
- 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 8:2and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;
- Luke 8:27When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs.
- Luke 13:16Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”
- Luke 8:43A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,
- Mark 9:21He asked his father, “How long has it been since this has come to him?” He said, “From childhood.
- Acts 4:22For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
- Ps 6:2Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am faint. Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
- Matt 9:32–33As they went out, behold, a mute man who was demon possessed was brought to him.
- John 5:5–6A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
- Ps 42:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
- Ps 38:6I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.
- Ps 146:8Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.
- John 9:19–21and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
- Job 2:7So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
- Acts 3:2A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple.
- Acts 14:8–10At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.
- Ps 145:14Yahweh upholds all who fall, and raises up all those 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.