Luke 13:14-17

13:14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ¹  should be done! ²  So come ³  and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” 13:15 Then the Lord answered him, ⁴  “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, ⁵  and lead it to water? ⁶  13:16 Then ⁷  shouldn’t ⁸  this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan ⁹  bound for eighteen long ¹⁰  years, be released from this imprisonment ¹¹  on the Sabbath day?” 13:17 When ¹²  he said this all his adversaries were humiliated, ¹³  but ¹⁴  the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things ¹⁵  he was doing. ¹⁶ 

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¹ sn The irony is that Jesus’ “work” consisted of merely touching the woman. There is no sense of joy that eighteen years of suffering was reversed with his touch.

² tn Grk “on which it is necessary to work.” This has been simplified in the translation.

³ tn The participle ἐρχόμενοι (ercomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁴ tn Grk “answered him and said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been shortened to “answered him.”

⁵ tn Grk “from the manger [feeding trough],” but by metonymy of part for whole this can be rendered “stall.”

⁶ sn The charge here is hypocrisy, but it is only part one of the response. Various ancient laws detail what was allowed with cattle; see Mishnah, m. Shabbat 5; CD 11:5-6.

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to show the connection with Jesus’ previous statement.

⁸ tn Grk “is it not necessary that.” Jesus argues that no other day is more appropriate to heal a descendant of Abraham than the Sabbath, the exact opposite view of the synagogue leader.

⁹ sn Note that this is again a battle between Satan and God; see 11:18-23.

¹⁰ tn The word “long” reflects the emphasis added in the Greek text by ἰδού (idou). See BDAG 468 s.v. 1.

¹¹ tn Or “bondage”; Grk “bond.”

¹² tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹³ tn Or “were put to shame.”

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁵ sn Concerning all the wonderful things see Luke 7:16; 19:37.

¹⁶ tn Grk “that were being done by him.” The passive has been converted to an active construction in the translation.