Luke 7:6-10

7:6 So ¹  Jesus went with them. When ²  he was not far from the house, the centurion ³  sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, ⁴  for I am not worthy ⁵  to have you come under my roof. 7:7 That is why ⁶  I did not presume ⁷  to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. ⁸  7:8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. ⁹  I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, ¹⁰  and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” ¹¹  7:9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed ¹²  at him. He turned and said to the crowd that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!” ¹³  7:10 So ¹⁴  when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave ¹⁵  well.

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the resultative action.

² tn The participle ἀπέχοντος (apeconto") has been taken temporally.

³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 7:2.

⁴ tn Or “do not be bothered.”

⁵ sn Note the humility in the centurion’s statement I am not worthy in light of what others think (as v. 4 notes). See Luke 5:8 for a similar example of humility.

⁶ tn Or “roof; therefore.”

⁷ tn Grk “I did not consider myself worthy to come to you.” See BDAG 94 s.v. ἀξιόω 1. “Presume” assumes this and expresses the idea in terms of offense.

⁸ tc The aorist imperative ἰαθήτω (iaqhtw, “must be healed”) is found in Ì^75vid B L 1241 sa. Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt bo) have instead a future indicative, ἰαθήσεται (iaqhsetai, “will be healed”). This is most likely an assimilation to Matt 8:8, and thus, as a motivated reading, should be considered secondary. The meaning either way is essentially the same.

¹¹ tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

¹² sn I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

¹³ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹⁶ tn Or “pleased with him and amazed.” The expanded translation brings out both Jesus’ sense of wonder at the deep insight of the soldier and the pleasure he had that he could present the man as an example of faith.

¹⁷ sn There are two elements to the faith that Jesus commended: The man’s humility and his sense of Jesus’ authority which recognized that only Jesus’ word, not his physical presence, were required.

²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summarization at the end of the account.

²² tc Most mss, especially later ones (A C [D] Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï), have “the sick slave” here instead of “the slave.” This brings out the contrast of the healing more clearly, but this reading looks secondary both internally (scribes tended toward clarification) and externally (the shorter reading is well supported by a variety of witnesses: Ì⁷⁵ א B L W ˹ 579 700 892* 1241 2542 it co).