For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Parallel Translations
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For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
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For I lyke wyse am a man vnder power and have vnder me soudiers and I saye vnto won goo: and he goeth. And to another come: and he cometh. And to my servaunt do this: and he doeth it.
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For I likewise am a man set vnder authoritie, and haue vnder mee souldiers, and I say vnto one, Goe, and he goeth: and to another, Come, and hee commeth: and to my seruant, Doe this, and he doeth it.
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Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Luke 7:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 10:7-8 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually. Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
- Acts 22:25-26 When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?” When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”
- Acts 23:17 Paul summoned one of the centurions, and said, “Bring this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to tell him.”
- Colossians 3:22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
- 1 Timothy 6:1-2 Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed. Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.
- Acts 23:23 He called to himself two of the centurions, and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, with seventy horsemen, and two hundred men armed with spears, at the third hour of the night.”
- Acts 23:26 “Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.
- Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion that Paul should be kept in custody, and should have some privileges, and not to forbid any of his friends to serve him or to visit him.
- Acts 25:26 of whom I have no certain thing to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, that, after examination, I may have something to write.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 8 For I also am a man set under…
8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Ver. 8. For I also] {See Trapp on "Mat 8:9"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For I also am a man set under authority,....…
For I also am a man set under authority,.... Of the Roman senate; "or belonging to the emperor", as the Arabic version renders it; and under the command of a tribune, as a centurion was: so that this is not an amplification, but a diminution of his office; and his sense is, that even he who was but an inferior officer, yet had such power as after related:
having under me soldiers; an hundred, or more:
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and I say unto one, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh, and to my servant, do this, and he doth it; as this his servant used to do, and whom he may intend, who now lay sick, and therefore was dear unto him. His meaning is, that Christ could as easily command, and call off a distemper, add it would obey him, as he could command obedience from his soldiers and servant, and have it, and more so.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Set under authority—Under the Roman senate or emperor…
8. Set under authority—Under the Roman senate or emperor as a soldier; under a tribune as a centurion. And, therefore, both by receiving and giving absolute order, I know what absolute command is. How perfectly precise a thought of our Lord’s power the centurion had, is not clear. We promptly reject Lange’s notion, that he had a pagan imagination of trooping “genii,”
flitting forth at Jesus’s word. The builder of a synagogue, doubtless, knew enough of the synagogue teaching to realize that the beings of mythology were excluded from the Mosaic system. It certainly could not be unknown to a man of such faith, and so prominent in Capernaum, that Jesus claimed to work miracles as prophet of Jehovah, and son of the only true God. So pagan a faith as Lange concedes him would hardly have drawn forth the Lord’s deep surprise and high eulogy.
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8. My servant—The singular does not indicate (as Lange) that he had but one servant. The one servant corresponds with the one and another of the soldiers, to whom order is individually given. For aught the text shows, he might have had as many servants as soldiers.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. For I also] This assigns the reason why…
8. For I also] This assigns the reason why he made the request. He was but a subordinate himself, “under authority” of his Chiliarch and other officers, and yet he had soldiers under him as well as a servant, who at a word executed his orders. He inferred that Jesus, who had the power of healing at a distance, had at His command thousands of the “Heavenly Army” (Luk_2:13; Mat_26:53) who would
“at His bidding speed,
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And post o’er land and ocean without rest.”
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For I also am a man set under authority,…
For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. What the soldier really thought of Jesus is evident when we read between the lines of this saying of his: "If I, who am under many a superior the chiliarch of my thousand, the tribunes of my legion, my emperor who commands at Rome yet receive a ready and willing obedience from my soldiers, and have but to say to one, "Go," and he goeth, to another, "Come," and he cometh; how much more thou, who hast no one above thee, no superior, when thou commandest disease, one of thy ministers, will it not at once obey?" The same thought was in Archdeacon Farrar"s mind when he wrote how the centurion inferred that Jesus, who had the power of healing at a distance, had at his command thousands of the "heavenly army", (Luk_2:13 Mat_26:53) who would "At his bidding speed "And post o"er land and ocean without rest. (Milton.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:8 the authority of my superior officers: The Roman…
7:8 the authority of my superior officers: The Roman army was renowned for its organization and discipline. The centurion recognized authority when he saw it in Jesus’ words and actions.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.