Bible Strands
Luke 19:48
Yet they could not find a way to do so, because all the people hung on His words.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator reports that the chief priests, scribes, and temple leaders could not act on their intent to kill Jesus while He taught daily in the temple courts because the crowds were listening to Him.
The words — The Greek εὕρισκον (heuriskon) translates literally as "they were finding," describing the leaders' failed search for a legal pretext to arrest Jesus.
The thread — This pattern of authorities seeking to trap Jesus in His words appears in Matthew 22:15, while the crowd's attentive posture parallels the public assembly in Nehemiah 8:3 and precedes the arrest plot recorded in Luke 20:19.
Why it lands — The text states that public attention temporarily blocked political violence, requiring a reader to recognize how crowd dynamics can constrain the actions of religious authorities without romanticizing the outcome.
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 could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 8:3 So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
- Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.
- Luke 20:19 When the scribes and chief priests realized that Jesus had spoken this parable against them, they sought to arrest Him that very hour. But they were afraid of the people.
- Luke 22:2 and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they feared the people.
- John 7:46 “Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
- Acts 16:14 Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.