When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
Parallel Translations
-
When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
-
When the sonne was doune all they that had sicke take with divers deseases brought them vnto him: and he layde his hondes on every one of them and healed them.
-
Now at the sunne setting, all they that had sicke folkes of diuers diseases, brought them vnto him, and he layd his hands on euery one of them, and healed them.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Luke 4:40 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 8:16-17 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”
- Mark 1:32-34 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons. All the city was gathered together at the door. He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.
- Mark 5:23 and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.”
- Mark 3:10 For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him.
- Matthew 11:5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
- Matthew 14:13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.
- Luke 7:21-23 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight. Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
- Acts 5:15 They even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some of them.
- Acts 19:12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.
- Matthew 4:23-24 Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.
- Mark 6:55-56 and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick, on their mats, to where they heard he was. Wherever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain See Poole on "Mar 1:32", and following verses to…
See Poole on "Mar 1:32", and following verses to Mar 1:34, where we met with the same things.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain The evangelist here declares sundry other cures wrought by…
The evangelist here declares sundry other cures wrought by our Saviour: he healed the sick, and dispossessed the devils. In our Saviour’s time we read of many possessed with devils, and of but few either before or afterwards.
Probably, 1. Because Satan, perceiving the Messiah to be come in the flesh to destroy his kingdom, did rage the more, and discover greater malice and enmity against mankind.
Read full note →
2. Perhaps Almighty God suffered Satan at that time to possess so many, that Christ might have occasion to manifest his divine power by casting Satan out. And accordingly we find our Saviour dispossessing all that were possessed by Satan. It is added, That he suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him; that is, Christ would not be made known to be the Son of God by the preaching of the devil, lest the world should from thence take occasion to think that our Saviour held a correspondence with those wicked spirits, and that the miracles which he wrought were performed by the devil’s assistance, as being one in combination with him.
Possible from the devils owning Christ to be the Holy One of God, the Pharisees concluded that there was a compact and agreement between them; and thereupon their affirmation was grounded. He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Not willingly, nor of themselves, but at the word…
Not willingly, nor of themselves, but at the word and command of Christ, who ordered them to depart,
crying out and saying; as they left the bodies, of men, and not with any goodwill to Christ:
Read full note →
thou art Christ; the true Messiah, that was of old promised and prophesied of, and has been long expected to come:
the Son of God; the only begotten Son of God, possessed of the same perfections with God his Father; and particularly of almighty power, of which they were convinced by his dispossessing them;
and he rebuking them, suffered them not to speak; for he needed not their testimony, nor did he choose to be made known by them:
for they knew that he was Christ, or "that they knew that he was Christ"; so the Syriac version: they certainly did know that he was the Messiah, partly by the voice from heaven at his baptism, and partly by his power over them: but Christ would not suffer them to say that he was the Messiah, or that they knew him to be so; either because the time was not come for such a declaration to be made, or they were not the proper persons to make it; and lest such a publication, by them, should be made a handle of by the Scribes and Pharisees, to say that he had society with devils, and by them cast them out.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain When the sun was set - And consequently the…
When the sun was set - And consequently the Sabbath ended, which they reckoned from sunset to sunset. Matt. viii, 16; Mark i, 32.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 40. When the sun was setting] And consequently…
Verse 40. When the sun was setting] And consequently the Sabbath ended, for before this it would have been unlawful to have brought their sick to be healed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The evangelist mentions this circumstance, because these distressed people…
The evangelist mentions this circumstance, because these distressed people did not dare to bring their sick before that time, either through fear of the Pharisees, or of violating the sabbath. (Origen)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 40–44. Healing the Sick at Evening
40–44. Healing the Sick at Evening
40. when the sun was setting] Sunset ended the Sabbath, and thus enabled Jews, without infringing on the many minute ‘abhoth’ and ‘toldoth’—i. e. primary and subordinate rules of sabbatic strictness—to carry their sick on beds and pallets. (Joh_5:11-12; see Life of Christ, i. 433.) This twilight scene of Jesus moving about with word and touch of healing among the sick and suffering, the raving and tortured crowd (Mat_4:24), is one of the most striking in the Gospels, and St Matthew quotes it as a fulfilment of Isa_53:4.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (40, 41) Now when the sun was setting.—See Notes…
(40, 41) Now when the sun was setting.—See Notes on Mat_8:16-17. Common to St. Luke and St. Mark are the “divers diseases,” and the silence imposed on the demoniacs. The words of the demoniacs, “Thou art the Son of God,” and “they knew that He was the Christ,” are peculiar to this Gospel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Now when the sun was setting, all they that…
Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. The healing of the "possessed" in the synagogue that morning, followed by the cure of the fever of Simon"s wife"s mother, we know was rapidly noised abroad, and in great measure accoutered for the crowds who brought their sick to him in the evening. It was evidently in the life of Jesus a notable occasion, and many a sick tortured one had occasion to bless the Master"s presence then. It was so memorable an occasion that all the three evangelists notice it; their reports are recorded in almost the same words. No doubt, in the early days of the preaching of the faith, this evening"s work was constantly alluded to by the first teachers. The note of time, "when the sun was setting," indicates that the moment in question had been waited for, for sunset ended the sabbath, and then those outside Capernaum and in its outlying suburbs were enabled to bring their sick and afflicted without infringing the strict sabbath rules. "The twilight scene, of Jesus moving about with word and touch of healing among the sick and suffering, the raving and tortured crowd, (Mat_4:24) is one of the most striking in the Gospels, and St. Matthew quotes it as a fulfillment of Isa_53:4" (Farrar).
The healing Savior.
Read full note →
This interesting picture had evidently been impressed upon the minds of the apostolic witnesses, for all the evangelists record the fact that the occurrence took place as the sun was setting, or in the evening of the day.
It was, indeed, a sight to be long remembered. Who can imagine the gratitude and joy which filled the hearts of husbands and wives, parents and children, as they that gracious presence and returned to their homes in health and strength?
I THE SUPREME MALADY. The malady of maladies from which we suffer is sin. For sin is to the soul just what sickness is to the body.
1. Its essential nature. It is the radical disorder of the human spirit. The faculties of the soul, instead of doing that for which they were created, are helpless or are perverted, so that the man himself no longer walks with God, no longer speaks his praise, no longer works in his cause. The soul that was meant to find its life and its heritage in revering, honoring, rejoicing in, serving, glorifying God, is out of all happy relation with him, cannot do his will, may not even know who he is. Everything is in a state of disorder and helplessness.
2. Its various forms. As there are "divers diseases" of the flesh, as the sickness of the body takes a variety of forms blindness, paralysis, fever, etc. so does sin in the soul and in the life of man. It may appear as doubt, or disbelief, or even impious denial of God; or as the deliberate and determined rejection of his claims; or as a flagrant violation of his laws; or as a guilty inattention to his voice as he speaks to us in conscience, or in his Word, or in his Son; or as a prolonged and presumptuous procrastination, ever delaying to do what is recognized as the right and the wise thing.
II THE ONLY CURE. As many of these sick ones knew not what else to do, to whom else they could apply; as they felt that the ordinary remedies and the human skill accessible to them must prove unavailing, and that, if this new and wonderful Healer did not help them, they must bear their burden of pain and helplessness through their future days; so may we feel respecting the supreme malady. Nothing merely human will prove to be a cure. Only a Divine hand can heal these deep wounds, these fatal ills. And how does Jesus Christ prove himself the one Healer of the heart?
1. By showing us our sin in its true light, as a grievous wrong done to our heavenly Father, and thus filling our souls with sorrow and shame concerning it.
2. By offering himself as that Divine One through whom it may be forgiven, and we be restored to the favor and friendship of God.
3. By leading us in every path of holiness and purity, and forming in us a righteous character and an obedient spirit.
III AN EFFICACIOUS METHOD. "He laid his hands on every one of them." The touch of that Divine hand communicated health to the body, and at the same time hope and joy to the heart. It was not absolutely necessary that he should touch them; he could "speak the word only," and the patient would be healed. But he preferred to do so; it brought him, the Healer, into close and loving contact with those, whom he was healing. We, too, in our way, are healers after Christ. We aspire to move through our life, dispensing health and happiness to them that are sick and sad of soul. If we fail in part to do this, may it not be because we do not get into close enough contact with those whom we are endeavoring to bless? We must learn to be like our Lord, and lay our hands on every one of them, and then shall we be most likely to heal them. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Luk_4:40; Luk_4:42
Luk_4:40; Luk_4:42
Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick
Read full note →
Now when the sun was setting
When the sun set another sun arose.
The eventide of nature brought the morning of restoration. Nature perishes: Grace is eternal. Come to Christ when you can--early in the day, or in the shades of evening--He is ever ready. In Luk_4:42 mark an attempt to localise Christ. This is often done even now. But He is not to be parochially or congregationally shut in. He is the light of every life. He must gather His sheep from every hill, and call His own from unexpected places. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The miracles of healing at Capernaum
These words form a very vivid contrast with what is recorded in the former part of this chapter. In Nazareth He did no mighty works. Could not, not would not. It was not because the people there didnt want help. It was as bad to be sick up there as in Capernaum. But it was because of their unbelief. Then in wonderful contrast comes this story of Capernaum. That contrast we can still make. We may have this Nazareth, Jesus in the midst with all His healing power, and yet our hearts unblessed; or it may be to us Capernaum, and Jesus moving in and out amongst us, laying His hands on every one of us and making us whole.
I. THE SCENE HERE PICTURED. The sun was setting; the mountains were lifting up their heads into the golden crimson, and the lake was bathed in the sunset hues. Across the rocky paths came wearied ones from the inland villages with withered limbs; blind men groping their way and asking piteously if they were right; deaf men trying to read the signs of His coming in everybodys face; and, across the lake, boat-loads of sick ones, the glassy surface of the lake just broken by the ripple of the oar; and thus they came, until what a sight it was about the gate of the city!
II. FOLLOW THE MASTER THROUGH THE WARDS OF HIS HOSPITAL. NOW the whisper runs through the crowd, He comes. He comes--those eyes of His all filled with compassion; and moving about amongst them, He laid His hands on every one of them. No poor woman was thrust away outside; no poor little child was forgotten.
1. Notice that the power of the Lord is a healing power--not to condemn the world. And
2. See how the Lord uses this power--with what gentleness.
3. Notice how the Lord deals with men in their individuality--every one of them.
III. Look AT THE SICK ONES. First, here is a heathen woman. Here stands a sturdy Roman soldier who has been maimed in some fight, &c. In Christs hospital every case is peculiar. (New Outlines of Sermons on New Testament.)
Gods Kingdom
Which kingdom? There is
(1) the kingdom of nature;
(2) that of providence;
(3) that of glory.
But none of these is the kingdom I am going to talk about. There is another kingdom, the kingdom of His grace, the kingdom in the hearts of men, called the kingdom of God in my text.
I. THIS KINGDOM IS ONE; THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH ARE MANY. The kingdom of God does not resemble any of these. It is a spiritual kingdom.
II. THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE NOT HAPPY, THE KINGDOM OF GRACE IS.
III. THE KINGDOMS OF EARTH ARE MAINTAINED BY FORCE; THE THRONE OF GODS KINGDOM IS ESTABLISHED IN THE AFFECTIONS OF ITS SUBJECTS.
III. THE KINGDOMS OF EARTH DECAY; THE KINGDOM OF GOD NEVER.
IV. Practical questions:
1. Are we members of this kingdom?
2. If not, are we willing to become members? (E. G. Gange.)
Imposition of hands
This rite is a symbol of any kind of transmission, whether of a gift or an office (Moses and Joshua, Deu_34:9), or of a blessing (the patriarchal blessings), or of a duty (the transfer to the Levites of the natural functions of the eldest son in every family), or of guilt (the guilty Israelite laying his hands on the head of the victim), or of the sound, vital strength enjoyed by the person who imparts it (cures). It is not certainly that Jesus could not have worked a cure by His mere word, or even by a simple act of volition. But, in the first place, there is something profoundly human in this act of laying the hand on the head of any one whom one desires to benefit. It is a gesture of tenderness, a sign of beneficial communication such as the heart craves. Then this symbol might be morally necessary. Whenever Jesus avails Himself of any material means to work a cure--whether it be the sound of His voice, or clay made of His spittle--His aim is to establish in the form best adapted to the particular case, a personal tie between the sick person and Himself; for He desires not only to heal, but to effect a restoration to God, by creating in the consciousness of the sick a sense of union with Himself, the organ of Divine grace in the midst of mankind. This moral aim explains the variety of the means employed. Had they been curative means (of the nature of magnetic passes, for example) they could not have varied so much. But as they were addressed to the sick persons soul, Jesus chose them in such a way that His action was adapted to its character or position. In the case of a deaf mute, He puts His fingers into his ears; He anointed the eyes of a blind man with His spittle, &c. Thus their healing appeared as an emanation from His person, and attached them to Him by an indissoluble tie. Their restored life was felt to be dependent on His. (F. Godet, D. D.)
The Great Physician
We have here a picture of Jesus as the Great Physician of soul and body, the Divine restorer of health to both body and mind. It is never to be forgotten how He thus met the sufferings of humanity, and brought effective deliverance as none other ever could or ever will bring, to a world ever groaning and travailing in pain. And what He did then, He is doing still. We cannot now see His earthly Form, nor do we look for miracles to be wrought upon us; but each of us has his own peculiar care or trouble, and needs the Divine Physician to relieve his distress.
1. True, there are earthly reliefs, and it is our duty to make proper use of them; but they are all more or less temporary and fleeting.
(1) For the body: medical relief and advice, &c. Yet these can give no immunity from disease. And most remedies soon lose their power.
(2) For the mind: distraction, pleasure, &c. These also are but the results of the experience of others, but they have no last in them, and they may only make the pain worse to bear than before.
2. True also, that if present relief is not to be had, we may still be buoyed up by earthly hope. But alas! how often is this but hope deferred, which makes the heart sick; and how often is the miserable and weary sufferer brought to such a state that the only earthly hope left him is the hope that he may soon be done with earth altogether, and his poor pained body be laid to rest in the grave! Oh, how vain are all earthly hopes, and how doomed to disappointment are those who trust in them. But, thank God! our Christian philosophy is not so cold. We have more than this.
I. A PRESENT HELP. We have learned that present, earthly, personal comfort is not such a grand object after all; that there are higher things, and better things, within our reach. What are these? Growing better, being sanctified, making this life not an end but a beginning and preparation for a higher and better life. Not only so, but we can go to Jesus as truly as could the friends at Capernaum, and help to take our sufferers there. Nor have we far to go. He is always at hand, and always accessible. Moreover, He is unchangeable; not like earthly friends and comforts, but always the same; the truest help in any and every kind of suffering--whether of mind, body, or estate, as many a soul has proved, in sickness, poverty, anxiety, loneliness.
II. A FUTURE HOPE. If, in spite of every aid, the burdens of life press heavily on us, we have more than the silence of the grave to look for; we know that while our body sleeps, our soul is with Christ in paradise, and that one day there will be a happy reunion. Conclusion: Let us first find the way ourselves to this present help and future hope, and then we shall be able to point our friends to it and to Jesus who is indeed our only help and our only hope. And then, one word more for our comfort. You will remember that our blessed Lord was not done with the sufferers when He laid His hands upon them and conferred present relief in trouble. They might go home with glad hearts, and enjoy the blessing of God, but a time would come when they might again suffer in body or in mind, and when they would at last have to give up all hope of earthly remedy. But Jesus was not forgetting them. Tired and wearied as He was, He rose up a great while before day, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. He was blessing them even more in His absence than while with them in bodily presence. Even so is it still with the sufferers and with the healed. Jesus is not only ever blessing us with divine comfort and strength, but He is pleading for us with the Father. He knows the pain of each heart, and He will bless us and it for our good if we will but go to Him. (George Low, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Cures on the Sabbath evening:
Cures on the Sabbath evening:
v. 40. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them.
Read full note →
v. 41. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God. And He, rebuking them, suffered them not to speak; for they knew that He was Christ.
With the setting of the sun the Sabbath was over, and therefore all Sabbath commands no longer binding. It was then that people, as many of them as had sick relatives and friends that were afflicted with any diseases, began to lead and to carry them to Jesus. The miracle of the morning had convinced them that they had a powerful Healer in their midst, and they were only too willing to take advantage of that fact. Jesus had compassion upon them: upon every one of the sick He laid His hands and thus cured them. What purpose the Lord had in mind in permitting Himself to be imposed upon with all this wholesale healing is shown by Mat 8:17. The one greatest disease, which the Lord has taken upon Himself and borne, is sin; all sickness, all evil, comes from sin, is a punishment of sin. When Jesus therefore laid His hands upon any sick person, it implied: Thou art a sinner, I am the Savior of sinners; I take the curse and consequence of sin from thee, let this be an admonition to thee to abstain from the service of sin. At the same time, demons came out from those possessed at the very presence of Jesus, screaming loudly and revealing the Lord’s identity as the Christ. But these revelations Jesus stopped summarily, since He desires no praise and confession from the devil nor from all those that have placed themselves in the service of the devil.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 laid his hands on
laid his hands on
"placed his hands on" or "touched"
Read full note →
Demons also came out
It is implied that Jesus made the demons leave the demon-possessed people. This can be stated clearly. AT: "Jesus also forced demons to come out" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
crying out and saying
These mean about the same thing, and probably refer to cries of fear or anger. Some translations use only one term. AT: "screaming" or "shouting" (See: Doublet)
Son of God
This is an important title for Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)
rebuked the demons
"spoke sternly to the demons"
would not let them
"did not allow them to"
translationWords
demon
Son of God
rebuke
Christ
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.