Luke 6:7-10

6:7 The experts in the law 1  and the Pharisees 2  watched 3  Jesus 4  closely to see if 5  he would heal on the Sabbath, 6  so that they could find a reason to accuse him. 6:8 But 7  he knew 8  their thoughts, 9  and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Get up and stand here.” 10  So 11  he rose and stood there. 6:9 Then 12  Jesus said to them, “I ask you, 13  is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” 6:10 After 14  looking around 15  at them all, he said to the man, 16  “Stretch out your hand.” The man 17  did so, and his hand was restored. 18 

1 tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

2 sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

3 sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

4 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

5 tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text; Jesus’ opponents anticipated he would do this.

6 sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

7 tn Here the conjunction δέ (de) has been translated as contrastive.

8 sn The statement that Jesus knew their thoughts adds a prophetic note to his response; see Luke 5:22.

9 tn Grk “their reasonings.” The implication is that Jesus knew his opponents’ plans and motives, so the translation “thoughts” was used here.

10 sn Most likely synagogues were arranged with benches along the walls and open space in the center for seating on the floor.

11 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s action was a result of Jesus’ order.

12 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

13 sn With the use of the plural pronoun (“you”), Jesus addressed not just the leaders but the crowd with his question to challenge what the leadership was doing. There is irony as well. As Jesus sought to restore on the Sabbath (but improperly according to the leaders’ complaints) the leaders were seeking to destroy, which surely is wrong. The implied critique recalls the OT: Isa 1:1-17; 58:6-14.

14 tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

15 tn The aorist participle περιβλεψάμενος (peribleyameno") has been translated as antecedent (prior) to the action of the main verb. It could also be translated as contemporaneous (“Looking around… he said”).

16 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the man with the withered hand) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

17 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

18 sn The passive was restored points to healing by God. Now the question became: Would God exercise his power through Jesus, if what Jesus was doing were wrong? Note also Jesus’ “labor.” He simply spoke and it was so.