Bible Strands
Luke 14:3
So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the experts in the law and the Pharisees while a man with dropsy stands before Him. He poses a direct question about the permissibility of performing a healing on the Sabbath.
The words — ἀποκριθεὶς (apokritheis) translates to "answering," indicating a deliberate response to the surrounding situation. νομικοὺς (nomikous) means "lawyers" or "experts in the law," identifying His specific audience.
The thread — This Sabbath healing dispute recurs in Matthew 12:10, Luke 6:9, and Mark 3:4, where similar questions about lawful Sabbath actions frame confrontations with religious leaders.
Why it lands — The text forces a choice between rigid ritual observance and compassionate action. A reader must decide whether to prioritize legal technicalities or the immediate need of a suffering person.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
Cross-references
- Matthew 12:10 and 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 6:9 Then 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?”
- Mark 3:4 And 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.
- Luke 13:14 But 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 7:23 If 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?
- Matthew 12:2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
- Matthew 22:35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:
- Luke 11:44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”