Luke 22:51

51 But Jesus answered [and] said, "{Stop! No more of this!}" And he touched [his] ear [and] healed him.

Luke 22:51 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 22:51

And Jesus answered and said
Not to the question of the disciples, but either to Peter, who had done this rash action; and so the Persic and Ethiopic versions add, "to him"; or else to the multitude, suffer ye thus far;
or to them both, to Peter to stop his hand, to proceed no further, but put up his sword; and so the Arabic version reads, "refrain thyself"; and to the multitude to be easy, and not revenge the affront that was given them: and in order to pacify them, "he went to the wounded man", as the Persic version inserts, and he touched his ear and healed him;
which shows, that though the human nature of Christ was in a very low condition, yet he still retained the power of doing miracles; and also his great humanity, by which example be confirmed his precept of doing good to enemies; and likewise hereby gave full proof of his willingness to be apprehended by them; for otherwise, he that wrought such a miracle as this, could easily have delivered himself out of their hands; and one would have thought this would have put a stop to them, and have convinced them of the truth of his being a divine person, and the Messiah.

Luke 22:51 In-Context

49 And [when] those around him saw what was about to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with the sword?"
50 And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered [and] said, "{Stop! No more of this!}" And he touched [his] ear [and] healed him.
52 And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs, as against a robber?
53 Every day [when] I was with you in the temple [courts], you did not stretch out [your] hands against me! But this is your hour and the domain of darkness!"

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
  • [b]. Literally "leave off to this"
  • [c]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  • [d]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("touched") has been translated as a finite verb
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