And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
- KJV And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
- BSB Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
- NASB Those who heard Him said, “And so who can be saved?”
- NLT Those who heard this said, “Then who in the world can be saved?”
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
The hearers ask, 'Then who can be saved?' They rightly sense salvation seems impossible.
Overview
If even the apparently blessed and capable rich cannot save themselves, the crowd wonders who possibly can. Their question reveals the assumption that wealth signaled God's favor. It opens the way for Jesus' decisive answer that salvation lies beyond human ability altogether.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Luke 13:23One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:26 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.