Luke 5:1

The Call of the Disciples

5:1 Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God.

Luke 5:15

5:15 But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses.

Luke 6:17

The Sermon on the Plain

6:17 Then he came down with them and stood on a level place. And a large number of his disciples had gathered along with 10  a vast multitude from all over Judea, from 11  Jerusalem, 12  and from the seacoast of Tyre 13  and Sidon. 14  They came to hear him and to be healed 15  of their diseases,

Acts 21:20

21:20 When they heard this, they praised 16  God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews 17  there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers 18  of the law. 19 

tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

sn The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Cf. the parallel in Matt 4:18.

sn The image of the crowd pressing around him suggests the people leaning forward to catch Jesus’ every word.

sn That is, in spite of Jesus’ instructions to the man to tell no one about the healing (v. 14).

tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

tn Or “on a plateau.” This could refer to a message given in a flat locale or in a flat locale in the midst of a more mountainous region (Jer 21:13; Isa 13:2). It is quite possible that this sermon is a summary version of the better known Sermon on the Mount from Matt 5-7.

tn Grk “large crowd.”

tn There is no verb in Greek at this point, but since “a large crowd” (see preceding tn) is in the nominative case, one needs to be supplied.

10 tn Grk “and.”

11 tn Grk “and from,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

12 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

13 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

14 sn These last two locations, Tyre and Sidon, represented an expansion outside of traditional Jewish territory. Jesus’ reputation continued to expand into new regions.

15 sn To hear him and to be healed. Jesus had a two-level ministry: The word and then wondrous acts of service that showed his message of God’s care were real.

16 tn Or “glorified.”

17 tn Grk “how many thousands there are among the Jews.”

18 tn Or “are all zealous for the law.” BDAG 427 s.v. ζηλωτής 1.a.β has “of thing…τοῦ νόμου an ardent observer of the law Ac 21:20.”

19 sn That is, the law of Moses. These Jewish Christians had remained close to their Jewish practices after becoming believers (1 Cor 7:18-19; Acts 16:3).