The Fallible Study Bible

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Luke4:31–37

Jesus Expels an Unclean Spirit

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Luke 4:31–37 — Jesus Expels an Unclean Spirit. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

31

Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai katēlthen eis Kapharnaoum polin tēs Galilaias kai en tois sabbasin ēn didaskōn autous

Word by word14 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κατῆλθενkatēlthenHe went downG2718
√ κατέρχομαι — to come (or go) down (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
katerchomai: to come or go down The aorist fixes the move as a completed act. Luke has just reported the attempt on Jesus’ life at Nazareth, and this verb turns the page geographically. Cambridge and Pulpit both connect the choice of Capernaum to its position on the great caravan road, and Pulpit quotes Farrar that it was “peculiarly fitted to be the center of a far-reaching ministry, of which even Gentiles would hear.”
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΚαφαρναοὺμKapharnaoumCapernaumG2584
√ Καπερναούμ — Capernaum (iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
Kapernaoum: Capernaum Pulpit observes that the name does not occur in the Old Testament at all, so the town appears not to belong to remote antiquity; Cambridge identifies it with Tell Hûm and reads the name as the village of Nahum. That silence matters: the place Jesus makes His base has no prophetic pedigree of its own.
πόλινpolina townG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
A common noun, “a city.”
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ΓαλιλαίαςGalilaiasin GalileeG1056
√ Γαλιλαία — Galilæa (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
σάββασινsabbasinSabbathG4521
√ σάββατον — the Sabbath (iNounDative Neuter Plural
sabbaton: the Sabbath Poole notes that Jesus keeps preaching on the Jewish sabbath, “not abolished till his resurrection.” The day itself becomes the setting for the exorcism that follows, which is the point of the whole Capernaum sabbath as Cambridge frames it: one complete day in the life of Jesus, morning to night.
ἦνēnHe beganG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
The copula of the periphrastic construction; it carries the imperfect aspect that the participle lacks.
διδάσκωνdidaskōnto teachG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
didaskō: to teach The participle holds the action open. Luke will name the content nowhere in this unit; what he reports instead is its effect (v. 32) and its power over spirits (v. 36). Benson fills the gap from the parallels, saying Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but Luke himself leaves the sermon unrecorded and reports only that the word had authority.
αὐτοὺςautous[the people]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
32

They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai exeplēssonto epi autou tē didachē hoti autou logos ēn ho en exousia

Word by word13 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξεπλήσσοντοexeplēssontoThey were astonishedG1605
√ ἐκπλήσσω — to strike with astonishmentVerbImperfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
ekplēssō: to strike with astonishment The imperfect middle or passive leaves the crowd acted upon. Poole refuses to let the astonishment count for more than it is: “Astonishment is one thing, believing is another,” and he points to Matthew 11:23, where Christ upbraids these very Capernaites. Luke reports a struck audience, not a converted one.
ἐπὶepiatG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
διδαχῇdidachēteachingG1322
√ διδαχή — instruction (the act or the matter)NounDative Feminine Singular
didachē: instruction, the act or the matter Both Ellicott and Cambridge insist the noun points at the manner, not a system of propositions. Cambridge describes what it was not: the scribal teaching of the day had become second hand repetition of minute precedents supported by endless authorities, ending in the dreary minutiae of the Talmud.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
The causal conjunction that makes the rest of the verse the explanation of the astonishment.
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λόγοςlogosmessageG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounNominative Masculine Singular
logos: something said, including the thought This is the hinge noun of the unit. It appears here as what astonishes, and again in v. 36 as what the crowd cannot name. Between the two occurrences the same word muzzles a demon, so Luke is quietly arguing that the authority heard in the synagogue and the power seen in the exorcism are one thing.
ἦνēnhadG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Imperfect of eimi, matching the durative teaching of v. 31.
ὁho. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐνen. . .G1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐξουσίᾳexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounDative Feminine Singular
exousia: privilege, delegated right The word names right rather than raw force; dynamis (v. 36) names force. Luke separates them here and joins them in v. 36, so that the crowd is made to say both. Gill adds that such power went along with the word that it reached their hearts, and that the Persic version renders it as penetration.
33

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai en tē synagōgē ēn anthrōpos echōn pneuma akathartou daimoniou kai anekraxen megalē phōnē

Word by word14 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenInG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
συναγωγῇsynagōgēsynagogueG4864
√ συναγωγή — an assemblage of personsNounDative Feminine Singular
synagōgē: an assemblage of persons The scandal is the location. Pulpit points out that a man with an unclean spirit would have been looked on as unclean and would not have been admitted within the synagogue walls; he had probably crept in unseen. Gill preserves a rabbinic tradition that Satan and the evil demon flee on the sabbath day to the mountains of darkness because the day is holy and they are unclean. Luke puts the unclean thing inside the holy place on the holy day.
ἦνēnthere wasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἄνθρωποςanthrōposa manG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
A man, not a category. Luke names no illness and gives no history.
ἔχωνechōnpossessed byG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
echō: to hold The present participle makes the possession an ongoing state rather than a seizure. The same root sense of holding is what Jesus breaks in v. 35, and the breaking is described not as a contest but as a command.
πνεῦμαpneuma[the] spiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἀκαθάρτουakathartouof an uncleanG169
√ ἀκάθαρτος — impure (ceremonially, morally (lewd) or specially, (demonic))AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
akathartos: impure, ceremonially, morally or demonically The adjective is drawn from the purity system, and the lexicon keeps all three senses live. Cambridge is right that Luke adds it for Gentile readers; the effect for any reader is that the category which the whole sabbath assembly exists to guard is the category the intruder violates.
δαιμονίουdaimonioudemonG1140
√ δαιμόνιον — a dæmonic beingNounGenitive Neuter Singular
daimonion: a demonic being Cambridge notes the Jews believed daimonia to be the spirits of the wicked, citing Josephus, and declines to settle the wider question of the reality of possession. Pulpit argues at length that the accommodation theory, which makes Jesus humor a popular belief, is incompatible with narratives in which the spirits speak, answer and make requests. Maclaren takes the reality for granted and calls the modern aversion to the supernatural an unreasonable prejudice.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀνέκραξενanekraxenHe cried outG349
√ ἀνακράζω — to scream up (aloud)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anakrazō: to scream up, aloud A rare verb (five verses). Elsewhere in Luke it is the Gerasene demoniac (Luke 8:28) and the crowd demanding Barabbas (Luke 23:18); in Mark it is the disciples taking Jesus for a ghost (Mark 6:49). It is the sound human beings make when something breaks in on them from outside the world they had counted on.
μεγάλῃmegalēin a loudG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
φωνῇphōnēvoiceG5456
√ φωνή — a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial)NounDative Feminine Singular
phōnē: a tone, articulate, bestial or artificial The man's voice is used, but Maclaren notes that only Jesus recognises who speaks through the wretched victim. The verse withholds the speaker's identity until the next verse supplies it in the first person plural.
34

“Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Ea ti soi kai hēmin Iēsou Nazarēne ēlthes apolesai hēmas oida tis se ei ho Hagios tou Theou

Word by word18 · parsed
ἜαEaHaG1436
√ ἔα — properly, let it be, iInterjection
ea: properly, let it be The lexicon preserves the etymology that makes it an imperative, but Cambridge and Pulpit independently read it as an inarticulate cry, and the manuscripts א, B and L omit the “Saying” that would introduce it as speech. Luke’s first recorded sound from the other side is arguably not a sentence at all.
τίtiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Neuter Singular
σοίsoido You [want]G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἡμῖνhēminwith usG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Plural
The first person plural. Cambridge observes that the demon speaks in the plural, merging his individuality in that of all evil powers; Gill says the same, that he includes the rest of the devils in that country. One voice answers for a kingdom, which is why v. 36 will speak of unclean spirits in the plural.
ἸησοῦIēsouJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounVocative Masculine Singular
Vocative. The demon addresses Him by the name Luke's readers know.
ΝαζαρηνέNazarēneof NazarethG3479
√ Ναζαρηνός — a Nazarene, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
Nazarēnos: a Nazarene A rare designation (six verses). The place that had just rejected Him now supplies the title by which hell addresses Him. The same word is on the angel's lips at the empty tomb (Mark 16:6) and on the disciples' lips on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:19), so the name of the failed hometown becomes the fixed identifier of the risen Lord.
ἦλθεςēlthesHave You comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
Aorist of erchomai, “didst Thou come,” pointing back past Capernaum to a mission with an origin.
ἀπολέσαιapolesaito destroyG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
apollymi: to destroy fully The infinitive states the purpose the demon assigns to the incarnation, and it is not wrong. What the demon gets wrong is the timing, which is why the Gadarene parallel adds “before the time.” Luke lets the enemy give the correct account of why Jesus has come and lets him be silenced for it.
ἡμᾶςhēmasusG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Plural
οἶδάoidaI knowG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active1st Person Singular
eidō: to know, to have seen The perfect is decisive. Maclaren calls this knowledge one of the features of possession that distinguish it from disease or insanity and quite incapable of explanation on any other ground. Note the irony Luke builds: the congregation in v. 36 can only ask who this is; the unclean spirit already knows.
τίςtiswhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
σεseYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 2nd Person Singular
εἶeiareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἍγιοςHagiosHoly [One]G40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
hagios: sacred, consecrated, morally blameless The adjective belongs to the same purity vocabulary as akathartos in v. 33, and the two stand at opposite ends of it. The unclean thing pronounces the holy title. Benson weighs two motives, terror or slander, and reports that Jesus would not allow demons to give Him the name; Geneva simply says Christ astonishes even the demons whether they will or not.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
theos: God The genitive fixes the relation. “Of God” is what makes the title unbearable to the speaker: the holiness is not Jesus' private quality but His belonging.
35

But Jesus rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Iēsous epetimēsen autō Phimōthēti legōn kai exelthe ap’ autou kai to daimonion rhipsan auton eis to meson exēlthen ap’ autou mēden blapsan auton

Word by word25 · parsed
ΚαὶKai[But]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπετίμησενepetimēsenrebukedG2008
√ ἐπιτιμάω — to tax upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
epitimaō: to tax upon, to censure with authority The verb presumes the right to sentence. Pulpit reads the rebuke as directed at the confession as much as at the possession: Jesus at once refuses this homage and never allowed devils to proclaim they knew Him. Benson gives the traditional reason, that a true title from a false mouth would let the Pharisees say He cast out devils by the prince of devils.
αὐτῷautō[the demon]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Dative of the person rebuked: the spirit. The grammar itself separates the victim from the enemy.
ΦιμώθητιPhimōthētiBe silentG5392
√ φιμόω — to muzzleVerbAorist Imperative Passive2nd Person Singular
phimoō: to muzzle Aorist passive imperative, a rare verb (eight verses), and the same verb Paul uses of the ox in 1 Corinthians 9:9, as Cambridge notes. There is no formula, no name invoked, no apparatus. Cambridge sets this beside Josephus' exorcism before Vespasian, achieved by a ring and a root, with the demon ordered to upset a basin of water as proof of his exit, and lets the contrast in sobriety stand as evidence.
λέγωνlegōnHe saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔξελθεexeltheComeG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
exerchomai: to issue A second aorist imperative, coordinate with the first. Two words and no gesture. This is the whole content of the miracle, and it is why v. 36 asks about a word rather than about a deed.
ἀπ’ap’out ofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτοῦautouhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiAt thisG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
δαιμόνιονdaimoniondemonG1140
√ δαιμόνιον — a dæmonic beingNounNominative Neuter Singular
ῥίψανrhipsanthrew [the man] downG4496
√ ῥίπτω — to fling (properly, with a quick toss, thus differing from G906 (βάλλω), which denotes a deliberate hurlVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Singular
rhiptō: to fling with a quick toss The participle is neuter, agreeing with daimonion, so the demon is the one doing the flinging. Gill records that it threw him into convulsive fits and left him; Benson reads the whole possession as an epilepsy, which goes beyond the text. Cambridge's reading is more careful: the convulsion became a spasm of visible deliverance, that is, the exit made itself seen.
αὐτὸνauton. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἰςeisbeforeG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
μέσονmesonthem allG3319
√ μέσος — middle (as an adjective or (neuter) noun)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
mesos: middle “Into the midst,” the public center of the assembly. Gill notes the versions that add “of them” or “of the synagogue.” The deliverance is staged where nobody can miss it, which prepares the whole town's question in v. 36 and the rumor of v. 37.
ἐξῆλθενexēlthen[and] came outG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀπ’ap’G575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτοῦautouG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μηδὲνmēdenwithoutG3367
√ μηδείς — not even one (man, woman, thing)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
βλάψανblapsanharmingG984
√ βλάπτω — properly, to hinder, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Neuter Singular
blaptō: properly, to hinder; to harm Two verses in the New Testament, and the other is in the disputed longer ending of Mark. Luke ends the exorcism on a negative: nothing was taken from the man. The demon's stated fear was destruction (v. 34); what is actually destroyed is only the demon's hold, and the human being is handed back whole.
αὐτόνautonhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
36

All the people were overcome with amazement and asked one another, “What is this message? With authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai pantas egeneto epi thambos kai synelaloun pros allēlous legontes Tis ho houtos logos hoti en exousia kai dynamei epitassei tois akathartois pneumasin kai exerchontai

Word by word25 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάνταςpantasAll [the people]G3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἐγένετοegenetowere overcomeG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
Aorist middle of ginomai, “it came to be.” The event verb is attached to the amazement, not to the people.
ἐπὶepi. . .G1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
θάμβοςthamboswith amazementG2285
√ θάμβος — stupefaction (by surprise), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
thambos: stupefaction by surprise Three verses in the New Testament, and the other two are Luke 5:9, when the catch of fish seizes Peter, and Acts 3:10, when the healed lame man is recognized at the temple gate. In all three the stupefaction is the recorded human reaction to a power that has just acted unmistakably and cannot be placed.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συνελάλουνsynelalounaskedG4814
√ συλλαλέω — to talk together, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syllaleō: to talk together Imperfect: they kept talking it over with one another. Luke gives us not a confession but a conversation. Nobody in Capernaum says what the demon said in v. 34.
πρὸςprosG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
ἀλλήλουςallēlousone anotherG240
√ ἀλλήλων — one anotherPersonal / Reciprocal PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
λέγοντεςlegontesG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΤίςTisWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οὗτοςhoutos[is] thisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
λόγοςlogosmessageG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounNominative Masculine Singular
logos: something said The crowd's noun is Luke's noun from v. 32, and that is the argument of the unit. They had been struck by a word that taught; now they have seen a word that evicts; and Luke makes them say the word aloud without being able to answer their own question.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἐνenWithG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐξουσίᾳexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounDative Feminine Singular
exousia: privilege, right The right to command. Set against the scribal teaching described by Cambridge, which rested entirely on cited authorities, this is authority that cites nothing.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δυνάμειdynameipowerG1411
√ δύναμις — force (literally or figuratively)NounDative Feminine Singular
dynamis: force The second half of the pair, and new in this unit; v. 32 had spoken only of authority. The exorcism has added the demonstration that the right to command is backed by the ability to enforce. JFB compresses the crowd's question into a single line: a word from the Lord of spirits.
ἐπιτάσσειepitasseiHe commandsG2004
√ ἐπιτάσσω — to arrange upon, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
epitassō: to arrange upon, to give orders The verb belongs to military and household command, not to incantation. It presumes a chain of authority in which the unclean spirits occupy a lower rank, which is the actual claim being made in this sentence, and it is a very large one.
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ἀκαθάρτοιςakathartoisuncleanG169
√ ἀκάθαρτος — impure (ceremonially, morally (lewd) or specially, (demonic))AdjectiveDative Neuter Plural
πνεύμασινpneumasinspiritsG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounDative Neuter Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξέρχονταιexerchontaithey come outG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
exerchomai: to issue The same verb Jesus used as an imperative in v. 35 now stands in the indicative on the crowd's lips. Command and compliance are reported with one word, which is Luke's most economical way of saying that nothing intervened between the order and the result.
37

And the news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding region.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ēchos peri autou exeporeueto eis panta topon tēs perichōrou

Word by word10 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦχοςēchosthe newsG2279
√ ἦχος — a loud or confused noise ("echo"), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
ēchos: a loud or confused noise, an echo Four verses in the New Testament, and the company they keep is decisive: the sea roaring in Luke 21:25 and the sound from heaven at Pentecost in Acts 2:2. Luke could have written phēmē or logos and did not. The unit that began with a shriek (v. 33) ends with a reverberation, and the word chosen makes the whole region an echo chamber for one spoken command.
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
αὐτοῦautou[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐξεπορεύετοexeporeuetospreadG1607
√ ἐκπορεύομαι — to depart, be discharged, proceed, projectVerbImperfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ekporeuomai: to depart, be discharged, proceed Imperfect, and built on the same ek prefix as the demon's exēlthen in v. 35 and the crowd's exerchontai in v. 36. They are different verbs, so this is not a word play Luke has marked; but the direction of the whole unit is one of things being put out, and the last thing put out is the report itself.
εἰςeisthroughoutG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
πάνταpanta. . .G3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
τόπονtopon. . .G5117
√ τόπος — a spot (general in space, but limited by occupancyNounAccusative Masculine Singular
topos: a spot, limited by occupancy A concrete noun. The rumor reaches places, not an abstraction called the public.
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
περιχώρουperichōrousurrounding regionG4066
√ περίχωρος — around the region, iAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
perichōros: around the region The horizon of the verse is still local: the country round the lake. Luke closes the Capernaum sabbath without any claim beyond Galilee, and the reader who knows Acts 2:2 can see how far this particular echo will eventually travel.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Down from the hill, and a word that cites nobody — Luke 4:31-32

⚙ Luke's first verb is a descent. κατῆλθεν (katerchomai, G2718) is literal topography, as JFB notes tersely: Capernaum lay on the sea, Nazareth lay high. Gill measures the distance at some sixteen miles; Poole adds a political reading, that Philip's jurisdiction promised more quiet than Herod's. Pulpit and Cambridge agree on why the town was chosen, both quoting Farrar that it sat on the way of the sea and was peculiarly fitted to be the center of a far reaching ministry of which even Gentiles would hear. Cambridge also notices that Luke keeps explaining Palestinian geography, which tells us who he is writing for.

⚙ Then the grammar slows down. ἦν διδάσκων is a periphrastic imperfect, a settled practice rather than a single sermon, and what Luke records is not the content but the reaction: ἐξεπλήσσοντο (ekplēssō, G1605), a verb the lexicon glosses as to strike with astonishment. Ellicott identifies the operative noun ἐξουσία with the authority of Matthew 7:29 and observes that there was no timid reference to the traditions of the elders. Cambridge documents what that contrast meant in practice, quoting a chain of rabbinic attributions from Schwab, and concludes that Christ referred to no precedents and quoted no authorities. Poole, who is the most cautious voice in this unit, immediately fences the observation: astonishment is one thing, believing is another, and he points to Matthew 11:23 to prove that these particular hearers never crossed the line.

ii. The unclean thing inside the holy place — Luke 4:33-34

⚙ The scandal of v. 33 is spatial before it is theological. Pulpit points out that such a man would have been counted unclean and barred from the synagogue, and had probably crept in unseen; Gill preserves the rabbinic saying that the evil demons flee to the mountains of darkness on the sabbath because the day is holy and they are unclean. Luke places the unclean spirit inside the holy assembly on the holy day, and then has it name the Holy One. Cambridge notes that the adjective ἀκάθαρτος here is peculiar to Luke, added for Gentile readers who would otherwise hear daimonion in a neutral or even favorable Greek sense.

⚙ On the reality of possession the voices divide honestly and we should say so. Maclaren takes it for granted, calls the modern aversion to the supernatural an unreasonable prejudice, and points to the demon's knowledge as the feature that distinguishes the phenomenon from disease or insanity. Pulpit argues at length against the accommodation theory on the ground that the spirits in these narratives speak, answer and make requests. Cambridge declines to adjudicate and refers the student to Jahn. ⚙ Our own reading follows the text's grammar rather than the debate: Luke writes that the man had a spirit (ἔχων), and that a voice not his own used his throat.

⚙ The confession itself is the unit's hinge. τί σοὶ καὶ ἡμῖν is the Semitic formula of separation that Cambridge traces to 2 Samuel 16:10 and 1 Kings 17:18; Benson glosses it as a protest that Christ's business is with men, not with devils. The perfect οἶδά claims settled knowledge, and the title ὁ Ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ is articular: not a holy man but the Holy One. Benson calls it a title of the Messiah and cites Psalm 16:10; Cambridge adds Luke 1:35 and Daniel 9:24. Benson also weighs the motive two ways, terror or slander, and does not decide. ⚙ The irony Luke has built is complete only when v. 36 arrives: the congregation that has been astonished twice can still only ask who this is, while the thing being evicted has known all along.

iii. Be muzzled: the command with no apparatus — Luke 4:35

⚙ Everything in this verse is bare. Φιμώθητι is an aorist passive imperative of phimoō, and Cambridge and Gill both refuse to soften it: literally, be muzzled, the verb used of the ox in 1 Corinthians 9:9. There is no name invoked, no ring, no root, no technique. Cambridge makes the point by contrast, setting the evangelists' sobriety against Josephus, who describes an exorcism before Vespasian performed with a ring and the root of Solomon, with the demon ordered to upset a basin of water as proof of his exit. ⚙ The comparison is worth more than it looks: the first century did have an exorcism literature, and Luke's account is conspicuously unlike it.

⚙ Two details protect the man. The dative αὐτῷ after the rebuke refers to the spirit, and Gill says so flatly: not the man, but the unclean spirit. And the closing participle μηδὲν βλάψαν uses blaptō (G984), a verb that occurs in only two verses in the New Testament, to report that nothing at all was damaged. Gill presses it: though sadly convulsed and in great pain, the man was not wounded in any part of his body nor deprived of the use of any limb. Cambridge reads the convulsion itself as a spasm of visible deliverance. Pulpit hears in the rebuke a refusal of the demon's homage and says Jesus never allowed devils to proclaim they knew Him; Benson adds the traditional reason, that a true title from that mouth would later be turned against Him by the Pharisees. ⚙ Pulpit's further claim, that no ray of the Redeemer's pity is ever shown toward these beings, is an inference from silence and we mark it as such.

iv. What is this word: a question left standing — Luke 4:36-37

⚙ Luke's syntax keeps the crowd passive to the end: ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντας makes the stupefaction the subject and the people the surface it lands on. The noun θάμβος occurs in only three verses, and the other two are Peter at the catch of fish and the crowd at the temple gate in Acts, both moments when a power has acted unmistakably and cannot be placed. Cambridge marks the change of register from v. 32: that was sudden and vehement, this is more deeply seated.

⚙ Their question repeats Luke's own noun. They ask τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος, what is this word, the same logos that had authority in v. 32. Gill holds both senses open, doctrine or word of command, and reports the Syriac and Ethiopic pulling toward the latter. They then pair ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει, the right to command and the force to effect it, and JFB compresses the whole into one phrase: a word from the Lord of spirits. ⚙ But Luke records no confession. He records a conversation among themselves, and then a noise. ἦχος (G2279) is a rare word, four verses, and the company it keeps is the roaring sea of Luke 21:25 and the sound from heaven at Pentecost. Cambridge and Pulpit both correct the older English to a rumour beginning to spread. ⚙ The unit opens with a shriek and closes with an echo, and between them stands a two word command that nobody in Capernaum can account for.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against Scripture. Luke has arranged this sabbath so that every witness is wrong in a different direction. Nazareth heard the word and tried to kill Him. Capernaum hears the word, is struck twice, talks it over, and produces a question rather than an answer: what is this word? The only accurate theological statement in the whole passage is spoken by an unclean spirit inside a synagogue, and it is immediately muzzled. That arrangement is not accidental. Luke is showing that right information about Jesus is not faith, and that a confession can be true in content and damned in posture. The demon has the doctrine (the Holy One of God), the perfect tense of settled knowledge, and the correct account of the mission (have You come to destroy us). What it lacks is the willingness to be ruled, and so its true sentence is treated as noise and stopped like a muzzled animal.

⚙ The counterpart is what happens to the man. He is never addressed, never rebuked, never asked for faith, and never harmed. He contributes nothing to the account except a body that a voice was using, and he is handed back whole with the rare verb blaptō guarding him: harmed in nothing. If the passage has a doctrine of deliverance, it is that the word which no one in the room can explain does its work on the one person in the room who is silent. ⚙ We do not press this further than Luke does. He gives no application, no call to repent, and no convert. He gives a word with authority, a word with power, and a region full of echo, and he leaves the town's question unanswered so that the reader has to answer it.

The demon's sentence was true and was muzzled; the town's question was honest and was left standing. (This line is the tool's own fallible commentary, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The same sabbath in Mark: a synoptic parallel word for word verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Luke 4:33-37 and Mark 1:23-28 report the same event with an unusually high proportion of shared vocabulary. The Verifier finds the link at three of the passage's most distinctive points: the rare shriek verb, the rare muzzle verb, and the astonishment over a teaching with authority. Ellicott, writing in 1878, explained the overlap by proposing that the two evangelists communicated the account to each other at Rome; ⚙ that is a reconstruction, not a datum, and we record the literary relation while leaving its cause open.

Mark 1:23 · Mark 1:25 · Mark 1:27

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G349 ἀνακράζω (rare, in 5 vv) and G5392 φιμόω (rare, in 8 vv) at Mark 1:23 and Mark 1:25, plus G1849 ἐξουσία (93 vv), G1322 διδαχή (29 vv) and G4151 πνεῦμα (344 vv) at Mark 1:27. Both members are New Testament Greek, so a shared Strong's basis is valid; the rarity of ἀνακράζω and φιμόω carries the verbal tier.

The scream: what a rare verb is reserved for verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ ἀνακράζω (G349) occurs in only five verses in the New Testament, so each occurrence is worth weighing. Luke uses it here of the unclean spirit and again at Luke 8:28 of the Gerasene demoniac, and then, startlingly, at Luke 23:18 of the crowd screaming for Barabbas. Mark uses it at 6:49 of the disciples taking Jesus for a ghost. ⚙ The verb is not a demon word; it is the sound a creature makes when Jesus arrives and the world it had counted on gives way. Luke's placing it on a Jerusalem crowd is his own doing, and we offer the connection as observation, not as a claim that Luke intended a cross reference.

Luke 8:28 · Luke 23:18 · Mark 6:49

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G349 ἀνακράζω, rare at 5 verses (Luke 8:28 also shares G3173 μέγας and G5456 φωνή). All members are New Testament Greek; the rarity of the lexeme is the recorded basis for a verbal link, with no claim of quotation.

Jesus the Nazarene: the rejected town's name becomes the risen Lord's title verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Ναζαρηνός (G3479) appears in only six verses. Luke has just narrated Nazareth's attempt on Jesus' life, and the first mouth to use the town's name afterward belongs to a demon. The same designation is on the angel's lips at the empty tomb in Mark 16:6 and on the Emmaus disciples' lips in Luke 24:19. ⚙ The line from the hometown that would not have Him, to the enemy who names Him by it, to the resurrection announcement, is the text's own; we do not claim the evangelists marked it.

Mark 16:6 · Luke 24:19

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3479 Ναζαρηνός, rare at 6 verses (Mark 16:6 also shares G5117 τόπος; Luke 24:19 also shares G3056 λόγος). All members are New Testament Greek. Mark 16:6 lies before the disputed longer ending (16:9-20), so its text is not in question here.

The echo: from a Galilean rumour to the sound from heaven verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Luke ends the unit with ἦχος (G2279), a rare noun in four verses. Cambridge and Pulpit both correct the English to a rumour beginning to spread, which is right for the sense; but the noun Luke chose is a noise word, and he uses it elsewhere only of the sea roaring in Luke 21:25 and of the sound from heaven like a rushing violent wind at Pentecost in Acts 2:2. ⚙ Since Luke and Acts are one work, the vocabulary is at least available for the observation that what leaves Capernaum as a local reverberation arrives in Acts as a sound from heaven. We claim the shared lexeme, not the authorial intention.

Luke 21:25 · Acts 2:2

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2279 ἦχος, rare at 4 verses. All three passages are in the Lukan corpus and all are New Testament Greek, so the shared Strong's number is a valid recorded basis. No quotation is claimed.

Stupefaction: the three places Luke records this reaction verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ θάμβος (G2285) occurs in three verses, all of them Luke's. Here it falls on the synagogue after the exorcism; at Luke 5:9 it seizes Peter at the catch of fish; at Acts 3:10 it fills the temple crowd who recognize the healed lame man. ⚙ In every case the stupefaction follows a demonstration of power that the witnesses cannot place, and in every case Luke reports it instead of reporting faith. Cambridge's distinction between this noun and the verb of v. 32 supports reading it as the deeper of the two reactions.

Luke 5:9 · Acts 3:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2285 θάμβος, rare at 3 verses, which is the complete New Testament distribution of the word. All members are New Testament Greek.

Harmed in nothing: a two verse word, and the other verse is contested flagged: verify source

⚙ βλάπτω (G984, glossed properly to hinder) occurs in only two verses in the whole New Testament. Luke uses it to close the exorcism: the demon came out having harmed the man in nothing. The other occurrence is Mark 16:18, the promise that a deadly thing drunk will not harm those who believe. ⚙ The lexical link is as tight as a link can be, two verses out of the whole corpus; but Mark 16:9-20 is the longer ending, whose presence in the earliest manuscripts is disputed, so we flag rather than assert this pair. If the longer ending is not original, the verbal basis is a coincidence of a small sample rather than a Markan echo.

Mark 16:18

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G984 βλάπτω, in only 2 verses, which would otherwise carry a verbal tier. Flagged because the counterpart sits inside Mark 16:9-20, the longer ending of Mark, whose textual provenance is disputed. The basis is lexically real but the witness is contested.

The Holy One of God: a title the Old Testament gives to men set apart structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The demon's ὁ Ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ is not a stock Septuagint formula, but the Old Testament does apply the language of being holy to the LORD to consecrated persons: Aaron is the holy one of the LORD in Psalm 106:16, and the Nazirite in Judges 13:7 and Judges 16:17 is one set apart to God from the womb. Benson calls the phrase a title of the Messiah and cites Psalm 16:10; Cambridge adds Luke 1:35 and Daniel 9:24. ⚙ The irony is the point of the passage: a title that belongs to those set apart for God is pronounced by the one thing in the room that is unclean, and the town that heard it never repeats it.

Psalm 106:16 · Judges 13:7 · Judges 16:17

basis: Cross-Testament link (Greek Luke to Hebrew Psalms and Judges), so shared Strong's numbers are unavailable by definition and no verbal tier is possible. The recorded basis is the shared motif of a person designated as belonging to God: Psalm 106:16 calls Aaron the holy one of the LORD, and Judges 13:7 and Judges 16:17 describe the Nazirite as set apart to God from the womb. Luke makes no citation and claims no quotation.

He sent forth His word: the bare spoken command that does the deed structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The crowd's question is about a word: in authority and power He orders the unclean spirits and they come out. The Psalter already knows a word that works by being spoken. Psalm 33:6 makes the heavens by the word of the LORD; Psalm 33:9 states the mechanism, that He spoke and it was; Psalm 107:20 applies it to rescue, He sent forth His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. ⚙ Luke does not quote any of these, and we are not claiming he does. But the whole Capernaum sabbath is built on the effectiveness of unaided speech, and the Psalter is where that idea is at home.

Psalm 33:6 · Psalm 33:9 · Psalm 107:20

basis: Cross-Testament link (Greek Luke to Hebrew Psalms), so no shared Strong's basis exists and a verbal tier is excluded. The recorded basis is a shared pattern: a word that is spoken and thereby accomplishes creation, deliverance and healing without any instrument. No quotation, echo or citation is asserted for Luke.

I will remove the unclean spirit from the land typological

⚙ Zechariah 13:2 promises a day when the LORD cuts off the idols and causes the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. Luke's exorcism is the first thing Jesus does in Capernaum, and what He removes is named with the same category word, unclean. ⚙ We tier this typological rather than verbal for two reasons: the link crosses Testaments and so cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers, and Luke gives no signal that he has Zechariah in view. Read figurally, the single expulsion in one synagogue is a first instance of the promised clearing of the land, and this reading is widely held in the tradition rather than novel with us.

Zechariah 13:2

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared lexeme basis is possible and a verbal tier is excluded. Figural reading: the LORD's promised removal of the unclean spirit from the land is taken as the pattern that this single expulsion instances. Ancient and widely held as a figural reading; Luke himself makes no citation.

A prophet like Moses, with My words in his mouth structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The crowd's astonishment is at a teaching that cites nothing. Deuteronomy 18:18-19 promises a prophet in whose mouth God will put His own words, and requires that whoever will not listen to those words be held to account. Ellicott and Cambridge both anchor the astonishment in Matthew's formula that He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes; ⚙ the Deuteronomy passage is where authority of that kind is defined in the first place, as speech that is God's own because He put it there. Luke draws no such line, and neither do the commentators in this brief; the connection is ours.

Deuteronomy 18:18 · Deuteronomy 18:19

basis: Cross-Testament link (Greek Luke to Hebrew Deuteronomy), so a verbal tier is excluded and no shared Strong's basis exists. The recorded basis is the shared structure of a spokesman whose words carry God's own authority rather than a cited human tradition. No quotation is claimed and Luke makes no citation.

Capernaum in Naphtali: an Isaiah link Luke does not make flagged: verify source

⚙ Three of the commentators in this brief connect the move to Capernaum with Isaiah 9:1-2. Benson says that by settling there our Lord fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy; Cambridge notes that it is St Matthew who sees the fulfilment (Matthew 4:13-16) and even offers a corrected rendering of the Hebrew; Pulpit quotes Farrar on the way of the sea. ⚙ We flag it rather than assert it, because the provenance of the citation is the point: Matthew makes it explicitly, and Luke, who is our text here, never cites Isaiah 9 at all. Any reader who takes this thread as Luke's is reading Matthew into Luke.

Isaiah 9:1 · Isaiah 9:2

basis: Contested provenance rather than contested text. The Isaiah 9:1-2 fulfilment is cited by Matthew 4:13-16, not by Luke; Benson, Cambridge and Pulpit import it into Luke 4:31. Cross-Testament in any case, so no shared Strong's basis and no verbal tier is available. Flagged so the attribution stays with Matthew.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Holy One of God, confessed by the wrong mouth ancient/widely-held

⚙ The passage's christology is spoken by its enemy. ὁ Ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ is articular and exclusive: not a holy man but the Holy One, and the perfect οἶδά claims settled rather than dawning knowledge. Benson identifies the phrase as a title of the Messiah and cites Psalm 16:10; Cambridge sends the reader to Luke 1:35, where Gabriel calls the child to be born holy, and to Daniel 9:24. Maclaren notes that the spirit knows not only the birthplace and name but the character and divine relationship of Jesus, and treats that knowledge as evidence of what kind of being is speaking. ⚙ Luke's own contribution is the silencing: the true title is muzzled, because testimony to Christ that refuses His rule is not testimony He will accept. Benson and Pulpit both record the tradition that the refusal was also prudential, since the Pharisees later used demonic acknowledgment against Him.

Psalm 16:10 · Luke 1:35 · Daniel 9:24 · John 6:69

A word from the Lord of spirits ancient/widely-held

⚙ The crowd asks about a word, and the pairing they use, ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει, joins the right to command with the force to enforce it. JFB reduces the whole question to one line: a word from the Lord of spirits. That is the redemptive-historical claim of the unit. In the Psalter the word that simply works belongs to the LORD, who spoke and it was (Psalm 33:9) and who sent forth His word and healed (Psalm 107:20); here that kind of word is on a Galilean carpenter's lips and the unclean spirits obey it. ⚙ Luke gives no theological gloss and lets the crowd's unanswered question do the work. Mark's parallel crowd asks the same thing (Mark 1:27). The identification of Jesus' effective word with the creating and delivering word of God is ancient and widely held, and the commentators here assume rather than argue it.

Psalm 33:9 · Psalm 107:20 · Mark 1:27

Have You come to destroy us: the wilderness contest resumed in public ancient/widely-held

⚙ The demon's question is about purpose, and it is not mistaken about the purpose. ἀπολέσαι (G622, to destroy fully) names what the enemy expects, and the aorist ἦλθες assumes a coming with a mission behind it. Luke has just narrated the temptation in the wilderness; this is the first public engagement after it, and Maclaren titles his exposition accordingly, presenting Christ as the Lord of that dark world of evil. Henry reads the whole Capernaum block the same way, saying these miracles showed Christ to be a controller and conqueror of Satan. ⚙ The New Testament states the purpose in the demon's own terms elsewhere: the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and He shared flesh and blood so that through death He might render powerless the one who had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). The demon's error is not about the mission but about the timing, and its answer here is two words and an eviction, not yet the end. This reading is ancient and widely held.

1 John 3:8 · Hebrews 2:14 · Genesis 3:15

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Text. The Greek here is the Berean interlinear base with Strong's tagging; the English quoted as BSB is the Berean Standard Bible. At Luke 4:34 Cambridge reports that the introductory word rendered “Saying” is omitted by א, B and L, which is why BSB begins the demon's speech with the interjection alone. The lexical entries in this brief are abbreviated Strong's glosses and several are truncated in the source (for example G1436 ἔα, “properly, let it be, i”), so where the gloss is cut off we have said what the lexicon shows and not more.

⚙ Sources. All commentary is public domain and named: Ellicott (1878), Benson (1810s), Henry (1706), Barnes (1834), JFB (1871), Poole (1685), Gill (1746-63), Geneva (1599), Cambridge (1880s), Pulpit (1880s), Maclaren (c. 1905). Barnes and Poole supply almost nothing for this unit: Barnes refers the reader to his notes on Mark 1:21-39 at every verse, and Poole covers vv. 33-37 with a cross reference to Mark 1. Henry's entry is a single block covering Luke 4:31-44, so any excerpt from Henry addresses the whole Capernaum sabbath rather than one verse. Geneva's entries at several verses are only the verse text with a heading, and its one substantive note is the marginal gloss at v. 34. Two entries in the brief are capped (Maclaren at v. 33 and Pulpit at v. 33); we quoted only from the visible portion.

⚙ What is uncertain. First, the nature of demonic possession is disputed among the very commentators printed here: Maclaren and Pulpit argue for its reality, Cambridge explicitly declines to adjudicate and refers the student to Jahn. We have described what Luke writes and have not settled the question. Second, Benson's reading of the possession as an epilepsy is his inference, not Luke's word. Third, the Isaiah 9:1-2 connection to Capernaum is Matthew's citation, not Luke's, and is flagged as such in the threads. Fourth, Ellicott's explanation of the Luke and Mark overlap by a meeting at Rome is a nineteenth century source theory, not a textual datum. Fifth, the Mark 16:18 lexical pair for βλάπτω is flagged because the longer ending of Mark is textually disputed. Sixth, at Luke 4:32 the manuscripts and editions order ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ, ἦν, ὁ and λόγος differently; our literal rendering follows the word order as the interlinear in this brief sets it out, and the sense is unaffected either way. Every cross-Testament thread in this unit is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, because a Greek text and a Hebrew text cannot share a Strong's number and this unit contains no formal Old Testament quotation.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)