Luke 6:9

6:9 Then ¹  Jesus said to them, “I ask you, ²  is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?”

Luke 13:14-16

13:14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ³  should be done! ⁴  So come ⁵  and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” 13:15 Then the Lord answered him, ⁶  “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, ⁷  and lead it to water? ⁸  13:16 Then ⁹  shouldn’t ¹⁰  this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan ¹¹  bound for eighteen long ¹²  years, be released from this imprisonment ¹³  on the Sabbath day?”

Matthew 12:10

12:10 A ¹⁴  man was there who had a withered ¹⁵  hand. And they asked Jesus, ¹⁶  “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹⁷  so that they could accuse him.

Mark 3:4

3:4 Then ¹⁸  he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent.

John 7:23

7:23 But if a male child ¹⁹  is circumcised ²⁰  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ²¹  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ²²  on the Sabbath?

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² sn With the use of the plural pronoun (“you”), Jesus addressed not just the leaders but the crowd with his question to challenge what the leadership was doing. There is irony as well. As Jesus sought to restore on the Sabbath (but improperly according to the leaders’ complaints) the leaders were seeking to destroy, which surely is wrong. The implied critique recalls the OT: Isa 1:1-17; 58:6-14.

³ sn The irony is that Jesus’ “work” consisted of merely touching the woman. There is no sense of joy that eighteen years of suffering was reversed with his touch.

⁴ tn Grk “on which it is necessary to work.” This has been simplified in the translation.

⁵ tn The participle ἐρχόμενοι (ercomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁶ tn Grk “answered him and said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been shortened to “answered him.”

⁷ tn Grk “from the manger [feeding trough],” but by metonymy of part for whole this can be rendered “stall.”

⁸ sn The charge here is hypocrisy, but it is only part one of the response. Various ancient laws detail what was allowed with cattle; see Mishnah, m. Shabbat 5; CD 11:5-6.

⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to show the connection with Jesus’ previous statement.

¹⁰ tn Grk “is it not necessary that.” Jesus argues that no other day is more appropriate to heal a descendant of Abraham than the Sabbath, the exact opposite view of the synagogue leader.

¹¹ sn Note that this is again a battle between Satan and God; see 11:18-23.

¹² tn The word “long” reflects the emphasis added in the Greek text by ἰδού (idou). See BDAG 468 s.v. 1.

¹³ tn Or “bondage”; Grk “bond.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “And behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

¹⁵ sn Withered means the man’s hand was shrunken and paralyzed.

¹⁶ tn Grk “and they asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated. The referent of the pronoun (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

¹⁸ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹⁹ tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

²⁰ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

²¹ sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

²² tn Or “made an entire man well.”