Luke 6:20

Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples directly, having looked up from the crowd that had been touching Him and receiving healing (v. 19). The shift from crowd to disciples marks a deliberate narrowing of audience.

The words — ἐπάρας (eparas), "having lifted up," is a participle describing a physical act: Jesus raises His eyes from the mass of people to fix on the disciples specifically. The gesture precedes and frames the words that follow.

The thread — James 2:5 echoes the same claim that the poor inherit the kingdom, and 2 Corinthians 8:9 inverts the pattern by showing Christ Himself moving from wealth to poverty for the reader's sake.

Why it lands — The verse places the kingdom in the hands of those the world would not expect to hold it, asking the reader to examine whether they have been locating blessing in the opposite direction.

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 he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Cross-references

James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
Luke 6:20 Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
Luke 12:32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Matthew 5:2 and He began to teach them, saying:
Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
James 1:9 The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.
Revelation 2:9 I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
2 Corinthians 6:10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Isaiah 29:19 The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.