Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable meant.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
- KJV And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
- BSB Then His disciples asked Him what this parable meant.
- NKJV Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
- NLT His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
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 disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable's meaning. They seek understanding rather than remaining at the surface.
Overview
Unlike the wider crowd, the disciples press in for the parable's significance. Their question shows the right posture of those given to know the Kingdom's mysteries. Jesus answers, modeling how genuine seekers move from hearing to understanding.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Mark 4:10When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
- Matt 13:18“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.
- Matt 13:10The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
- Hos 6:3Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
- Mark 7:17–18When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.
- Matt 13:36Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
- John 15:15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
- Matt 15:15Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.”
- Mark 4:34Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
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 8:9 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.