So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
- KJV And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
- NKJV And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
- NASB And Jesus responded and said to the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
- NLT Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?”
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 directly asks the lawyers and Pharisees whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. He confronts their scrutiny with the real question at stake.
Overview
Rather than act covertly, Jesus openly puts the question to the experts in the law. He forces them to confront whether mercy can rightly be shown on God's day. The question exposes the gap between their traditions and the heart of God's commands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 12:10and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
- Luke 6:9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
- Luke 13:14–16But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”
- John 7:23If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath?
- Mark 3:4And He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” But they were silent.
- Matt 22:35One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:
- Luke 11:44–45Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”
- Matt 12:2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
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 14:3 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
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