Section 5:17–26

Jesus healed a paralyzed man

In this section, Luke focused on Jesus’ authority. Jesus used his authority from God to forgive the paralyzed man’s sins. The religious leaders questioned that authority. Jesus proved his authority to forgive sin when he healed the paralyzed man.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Jesus showed that he had authority to forgive sins
-or-
Jesus forgave the sins of a paralyzed man and healed him

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 9:1–8 and Mark 2:1–12.

Paragraph 5:17–19

5:17a

One day: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as One day is literally: “On one of the days.” It introduces a new event and indicates that it happened sometime during the same period of time as the preceding events. Some ways to translate this are:

At about that time
-or-
One day around that time
-or-
On one of those days (Revised Standard Version)

Jesus was teaching: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus here is the pronoun “he.” It refers to Jesus. Introduce him in this section in a natural way in your language.

was teaching: It may be necessary to make explicit what Jesus was teaching and to whom he was speaking. For example:

as Jesus was teaching ⌊the word of God⌋ ⌊to the people⌋

It is clear from the verses that follow that Jesus was teaching inside a house. In some languages it may be more natural to include where Jesus was in this verse. For example, you could say:

as he was teaching ⌊in a house⌋

5:17b

the Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws carefully and in detail. Here are some ways to translate this word:

• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people. For example:

Farisi members
-or-
Parise adherents

• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:

people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group
-or-
members of the Jewish group called the Farasi

See Pharisee, sense A, in Key Biblical Terms. You may also want to include an explanation of Pharisees in the glossary of your translation.

teachers of the law: The teachers of the law were scholars who studied, taught, and interpreted the law of Moses, as well as related Jewish laws and traditions. Most teachers of the law were Pharisees, but not all Pharisees were teachers of the law. Some ways to translate this term are:

experts in the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
teachers of religious law (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
experts on the law

See teacher of the law in the Glossary.

were sitting there: The phrase were sitting there means “were present.” The emphasis is on the fact that the religious leaders were there listening rather than on their posture. For example:

were present (God’s Word)
-or-
were there (New Century Version)

from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea: Galilee and Judea are regions or provinces. Jerusalem is a city in Judea. Some ways to translate this are:

from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem (New Living Translation (2004))

from every village of Galilee and Judea: The phrase from every village of Galilee and Judea is a figure of speech called a hyperbole. Luke did not literally mean every single village. He meant that these religious leaders had come from many different villages in Israel. If your readers would tend to understand every village literally, some ways to translate this are:

from many villages of Galilee and Judea
-or-
from villages all over Galilee and Judea

5:17c

and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick: The clause and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick indicates that God’s power was with Jesus. This power enabled Jesus to prove that he was God by healing sick people.

Some ways to translate this are:

The Lord was giving Jesus the power to heal people. (New Century Version)
-or-
God had given Jesus the power to heal the sick (Contemporary English Version)

the Lord: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Lord means “master” or “one who has authority over others.” In this context the Lord refers to God. Other ways to translate Lord are:

Master/Chief
-or-
Ruler

In some languages, people may not naturally use a word that means “master” to refer to God. If speakers of your language do not understand that your word for “Lord” refers to God in this context, here are other ways to translate it:

• Use your word for God.

• Use your word for God and indicate that he is the Lord. For example:

God the Lord
-or-
Master God

If you include the word for God in your translation of Lord, you may want to include a footnote to give the literal Greek meaning. For example:

Here the Greek text is literally “Lord.”

See Lord, Context 2, in the Glossary.

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