Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
Parallel translations
- KJV And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
- BSB Suddenly a man in the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only child.
- NKJV Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child.
- NASB And a man from the crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, because he is my only son,
- NLT A man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only child.
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 man cries out, begging Jesus to look at his only son. A father's desperate plea brings a hopeless case to Christ.
Overview
The man's anguish for his only child evokes deep compassion and mirrors human helplessness before suffering. His appeal to Jesus shows where desperate need rightly turns. Luke's note that the boy is an only child heightens the pathos and recalls Jesus' tender mercy toward such cases.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Zech 12:10I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
- John 4:47When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
- Luke 8:41–42Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house,
- Luke 7:12Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.
- Matt 15:22Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!”
- Gen 44:20We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’
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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 9:38 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.