One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
- KJV And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
- BSB On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God,
- NKJV So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret,
- NASB Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;
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
Crowds press around Jesus to hear the word of God by the lake of Gennesaret. The people hunger for his teaching.
Overview
Luke sets the scene for the call of the first disciples by the Sea of Galilee, also called Gennesaret. The crowd's eagerness to hear 'the word of God' shows the drawing power of Jesus' teaching. The pressing multitude prompts the practical solution of teaching from a boat, which leads into the miraculous catch and Peter's call.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mark 1:16–20Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
- Matt 4:18–22Walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
- Mark 3:9He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him.
- Matt 14:34When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.
- Mark 6:53When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.
- Matt 11:12From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
- Deut 3:17the Arabah also, and the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward.
- Josh 12:3and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth Jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:
- Mark 5:24He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
- Num 34:11The border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. The border shall go down, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward.
- Luke 12:1Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- Luke 8:45Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
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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 5:1 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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