New Testament · Gospel

Luke 6:18

Blessings and Woes

They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed. Luke 6:18 · Berean Standard Bible

What It Means

Luke 6:18, in plain English

They came for two reasons: to hear Jesus teach and to be healed. Even those tormented by evil spirits were set free.

Why it's here

Jesus met every kind of need — spiritual, physical, emotional. Nobody left the way they came.

Who's speaking

Luke describes what the crowd came for and what they received.

Where it sits in the story

Whatever brought people to Jesus — curiosity, desperation, pain — He met them all. He still does. You don't have to have the 'right' reason to come to Him. Just come.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

The crowds came for dual purposes: akousai ("to hear") and iathēnai ("to be healed"). Those troubled by pneumata akatharta ("unclean spirits") were also being etherapeuonto ("healed/served").

Language and setting

Luke presents Jesus' ministry as holistic — addressing both teaching needs and physical/spiritual afflictions. The healing of those with unclean spirits continues the exorcism motif from chapter 4.

Voice

Luke summarizes the dual purposes of the crowd and the healings taking place.

Significance

The crowd represents the full spectrum of human need: intellectual hunger for truth and physical desperation for healing. Jesus ministers to both without prioritizing one over the other.

In context

Luke 6:16–20

16Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

17Then Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of His disciples was there, along with a great number of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon.

18They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed.

19The entire crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.

20Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Read all of Luke 6 — Blessed are the poor; woe to the rich. Jesus delivers his version of the great sermon and demands a love so radical it includes your enemies.

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