Luke 7:1–35

The Centurion’s Faith

^1aWhen He had completed all His words in the hearing of the people, ^bHe went to Capernaum.

²And a centurion’s slave, ¹who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

³Now when he heard about Jesus, ^ahe sent some ¹Jewish elders asking Him to come and ²save the life of his slave.

⁴And when they came to Jesus, they were earnestly pleading with Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;

⁵for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”

⁶Now Jesus was going on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “¹Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not good enough for You to come under my roof.

⁷“For this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just ¹say the word, and my ²servant will be healed.

⁸“For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

⁹Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him. And He turned to the crowd that was following Him and said, “I say to you, ^anot even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

¹⁰And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹And it happened that soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain, and His disciples were going along with Him, ¹accompanied by a large crowd.

¹²Now as He approached the gate of the city, behold, ¹a dead man was being carried out, the ²only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.

¹³And when ^athe Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not cry.”

¹⁴And He came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

¹⁵And the ¹dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

^16aAnd fear gripped them all, and they began ^bglorifying God, saying, “A great ^cprophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has ¹visited His people!”

^17aAnd this report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

Questions from John the Baptist

^18aAnd the disciples of John reported to him about all these things.

¹⁹Summoning ¹two of his disciples, John sent them to ^athe Lord, saying, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?”

²⁰When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?’”

²¹At that ¹very time He ^acured many people of diseases and ^bafflictions and evil spirits, and He granted sight to many who were blind.

²²And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the ^ablind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the ^bpoor have the gospel preached to them.

²³“Blessed is he ¹who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴And when the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?

²⁵“¹But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft garments? Behold, those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces!

²⁶“But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and even more than a prophet.

²⁷“This is the one about whom it is written,

‘^aBehold, I send My messenger ¹ahead of You,

Who will prepare Your way before You.’

²⁸“I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is ¹least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹And when all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they ¹acknowledged ^aGod’s justice, ^bhaving been baptized with ^cthe baptism of John.

³⁰But the Pharisees and the ^ascholars of the Law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ¹John.

³¹“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like?

³²“They are like children, sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, who say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’

³³“For John the Baptist has come ^aeating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

³⁴“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ¹drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ²sinners!’

³⁵“Yet wisdom ^ais vindicated ¹by all her children.”