Luke 4:36

36 And amazement came upon [them] all, and they began to talk with one another, saying, "What word [is] this? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!"

Luke 4:36 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 4:36

And they were all amazed
The people in the synagogue; they were astonished at his doctrine before, and now at his miracles:

and spake among themselves;
as they were in the synagogue,

what a word is this?
meaning, either what sort of doctrine is this which is attended with such power and miracles; or what a word of command is this, "hold thy peace, and come out of him?" and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "what is this mandatory", or "commanding word?" to which agrees the Syriac version, rendering it with the following clause thus; "what is this word", that "with authority and power it commands the unclean spirits, and they come out?" (See Gill on Mark 1:27).

Luke 4:36 In-Context

34 "Ha! {Leave us alone}, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"

35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent and come out of him!" And [after] throwing him down in their midst, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.

36 And amazement came upon [them] all, and they began to talk with one another, saying, "What word [is] this? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!"

37 And news about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.

38 And [after he] set out from the synagogue, he went into Simon's house. And Simon's mother-in-law was afflicted with a high fever, and they asked him on behalf of her.

Footnotes

• [a]. *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to talk")
• [b]. Or "command"