---
title: "Luke 10 - Study King James Bible with ellicotts commentary for english readers"
description: "Read Luke 10 with ellicotts commentary for english readers commentary. 1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would"
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---

[ Read](/kjv/luke/10)[ Commentary](/study/luke/10)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/luke/10) Audio

 1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

 2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly *is* great, but the labourers *are* few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.

 5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace *be* to this house.

 6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

 7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

 8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:

 9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

 10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,

 11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

 12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.

 13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

 14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.

 15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

 16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

 17 ¶ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

 21 ¶ In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

 22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and *he* to whom the Son will reveal *him.*

 23 ¶ And he turned him unto *his* disciples, and said privately, Blessed *are* the eyes which see the things that ye see:

 24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen *them*; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard *them.*

 25 ¶ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain *man* went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded *him*, and departed, leaving *him* half dead.

 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked *on him*, and passed by on the other side.

 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion *on him*,

 34 And went to *him*, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave *them* to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

 38 ¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
 
[Luke 9](/study/luke/9) [Luke 11](/study/luke/11)

## Commentary

 To verse 1
 
**X.** 

(1) **After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also.**—Some MSS. of importance give “seventy-two,” but the evidence preponderates in favour of the reading “seventy.” The number had a threefold significance. (1) Seventy elders had been appointed by Moses to help him in his work of teaching and judging the people ([Numbers 11:16](/kjv/numbers/11/16)), and to these the spirit of prophecy had been given that they might bear the burden with him. In appointing the Seventy our Lord revived, as it were, the order or “school” of prophets which had been so long extinct. The existence of such men in every Church is implied in well-nigh every Epistle (*e.g.,* [Acts 13:1](/kjv/acts/13/1); [Acts 15:32](/kjv/acts/15/32); [1 Corinthians 12:28](/kjv/1-corinthians/12/28); [1 Corinthians 14:29](/kjv/1-corinthians/14/29); [1 Thessalonians 5:20](/kjv/1-thessalonians/5/20)), and the fact that St. Paul and others join together the “Apostles and Prophets” as having been jointly the foundation on which the Church was built ([Ephesians 2:20](/kjv/ephesians/2/20); [Ephesians 3:5](/kjv/ephesians/3/5); [Ephesians 4:11](/kjv/ephesians/4/11); [2 Peter 3:2](/kjv/2-peter/3/2)), makes it probable that the latter words, no less than the former, pointed in the first instance to a known and definite body. The Seventy presented such a body. They, though not sharers in the special authority and functions of the Twelve, were yet endowed with like prophetic powers, and the mysteries of the kingdom were revealed to them ([Luke 10:21](/kjv/luke/10/21)). (2) As the Sanhedrin or great Council of scribes and priests and elders consisted of seventy members besides the president, the number having been fixed on the assumption that they were the successors of those whom Moses had chosen, our Lord’s choice of the number could hardly fail to suggest the thought that the seventy disciples were placed by Him in a position of direct contrast with the existing Council, as an assembly guided, not by the traditions of men, but by direct inspiration. (3) But the number seventy had come to have another symbolical significance which could not fail to have a special interest. Partly by a rough reckoning of the names of the nations in [Genesis 10:0](/kjv/genesis/10/0), partly on account of the mystical completeness of the number itself, seventy had come to be the representative number of all the nations of the world; and so, in the Feast of Tabernacles, which in any harmonistic arrangement of the Gospel narrative must have almost immediately preceded the mission of the Seventy (see Note on [John 7:2](/kjv/john/7/2)), a great sacrifice of seventy oxen was offered as on behalf of all the non-Israelite members of the great family of mankind (Lightfoot, *Hor. Hebr. in Joann.* 7). Bearing this in mind, and remembering the words that our Lord had spoken during that feast as to the “other sheep, not of that fold” ([John 10:16](/kjv/john/10/16)), which He had come to gather, we may see in what is here recorded a step full of meaning, a distinct and formal witness of the future universality of the Church of Christ. The omission, in the charge addressed to them, of the command given to the Twelve against entering into the way of the Gentiles or any city of the Samaritans ([Matthew 10:5](/kjv/matthew/10/5)) is on this view full of interest. 

The question, of course, occurs to us how it was that such a mission should have been omitted by St. Matthew and St. Mark. To this, only partial answers can be given. (1) The mission belonged to the last period of our Lord’s ministry, where their records are comparatively scanty, and was confined to the region, apparently of Peræa and Judæa, which He was then about to visit. (2) It was one in which, from the nature of the case, the Twelve were not sharers, and which, therefore, naturally came to occupy a less prominent place in the recollections of those from whom the narratives of the first two Gospels were primarily derived.

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