Luke 5:19

5:19 took off some tiles: Palestinian roofs were normally made of wooden beams covered with reeds and mud or clay. Either this roof had tiles, or else Luke was interpreting the episode for his Greek readers (cp. Mark 2:4, which speaks of digging through the roof).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 5:19. Ποίας, by what kind of way [sc. διὰ π. ὁδοῦ]) An Ellipsis the same as in ch. Luk 19:4, ἐκείνης; and in Act 9:2, τῆς ὁδοῦ ὄντας. Comp. Lamb. Bos on the Ellipsis of the Preposition, διά. Others [as the Rec. Text] read διὰ ποίας;[56] others, διὰ ποίας ὁδοῦ; others otherwise.

[56] There are none of the oldest authorities for the reading διὰ ποίας. ABCD read ποίας: bc Vulg. “quâ parte.”—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 5:19 . ποίας ( διὰ ποίας ὁδοῦ ), by what way. σ . τ . κλινιδίῳ : dim. of κλίνη (Luk 5:18 , here only in N. T.). Lk. avoids Mk.’s κράββατος , though apparently following him as to the substance of the story.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

housetop--the flat roof.

through the tiling . . . before Jesus--(See on Mar 2:2).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. Went upon the housetop] See Clarke on Mt 24:17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) With his couch.—The Greek word is the diminutive of the word translated “bed” in Luk_5:18, and is used, apparently, as St. Mark uses the Latin grabatum, to show how it was that the process described was possible.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. they went upon the housetop] A very easy thing to do because there was in most houses an outside staircase to the roof, Mat_24:17. Eastern houses are often only one storey high, and when they are built on rising ground, the roof is often nearly on a level with the street above. Our Lord may have been teaching in the “upper room” of the house, which was usually the largest and quietest. 2Ki_4:10; Act_1:13; Act_9:37.

let him down through the tiling] St Mark says they uncovered the roof where he was, and digging it up, let down ‘the pallet.’ Clearly then two operations seem to have been necessary: (i) to remove the tiles, and (ii) to dig through some mud partition. But the description is too vague to enable us to understand the details. Sceptical writers have raised difficulties about it in order to discredit the whole narrative (comp. Cic. Php_2:18, “per tegulas demitterere”), but the making of an aperture in the roof is an everyday matter in the East (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 358), and is here alluded to, not because it was strange, but to illustrate the active, and as it were nobly impatient, faith of the man and the bearers.

with his couch] klinidion, ‘little bed,’ probably a mere mat or mattress. It means the same as St Mark’s krabbaton, but that being a semi-Latin word (grabatum) would be more comprehensible to the Roman readers of St Mark than to the Greek readers of St Luke.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when they could not find by what way,.... As by the door, or in at a window of the house:

they might bring him in; to Jesus, in the house:

because of the multitude; which was about the door, and all the fore part of the house:

they went upon the housetop; by a ladder, or pair of stairs, which usually were on the outside of houses; See Gill on Mat 24:17 the houses of the Jews being flat roofed:

and let him down through the tiling with his couch, into the midst before Jesus; that is, they untiled the roof, or took away the tiles which were about the trap door, or passage, into the inside of the house; and so making it wider, let down the man upon his couch, or bed, into the middle of the room and of the people, just before Jesus, where he was sitting; See Gill on Mar 2:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

Ver. 19. They went upon the housetop] Which (according to the custom of building in those Eastern countries) was flat laid, and surrounded with battlements, Deu 22:8.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let us learn from this example, how diligent we should be in procuring spiritual health, both for ourselves and for our friends. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not being able to bring him in through the multitude, they went round about by a back passage, and going up the stairs on the outside, they came upon the flat-roofed house, and let him down through the trap door, such as was on the top of most of the Jewish houses: doubtless, with such circumspection as the circumstances plainly required.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

19. ποίας. Rec[109] has the gloss διὰ ποίας.

[109] Rec. The Textus Receptus.

19. μὴ εὑρόντες. Comp. Luk 2:45.

ποίας, ‘in what way’ (ὁδοῦ might have been expressed). The διὰ ποίας of Ebr. is a grammatical gloss, as also are the readings πῶς and πόθεν. ποίᾳ is an unsupported conjecture of Bornemann. We have a similar local genitive in ἐκείνης, ‘that way,’ Luk 19:4. It is found in the pronominal adverbs οὖ, ποῦ, and in such phrases as λαιᾶς χειρός, ‘on the left hand,’ Aesch. Prom. 714. Cp. Ag. 1054; Soph. El. 900. See my Brief Greek Syntax, § 46; Winer, p. 739, and § 30, 11.

ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα. A very easy thing to do because there was in most cases an outside staircase to the roof, Mat 24:17. Eastern houses are often only one storey high, and when they are built on rising ground, the roof is often nearly on a level with the street above. Our Lord may have been teaching in the “upper room” of the house, which was usually the largest and quietest. 2Ki 4:10; Act 1:13; Act 9:37.

διὰ τῶν κεράμων καθῆκαν αὐτόν. St Mark says they uncovered the roof where He was, and digging it up, let down ‘the pallet.’ Clearly then two operations seem to have been necessary: (1) to remove the tiles, and (ii) to dig through some mud partition. But the description is too vague to enable us to understand the details. Sceptical writers have raised difficulties about it in order to discredit the whole narrative, but the making of an aperture in the roof (comp. Cic. Phil. II. 18, “per tegulas demitterere”) is an everyday matter in the East (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 358), and is here alluded to, not because it was strange, but to illustrate the active, and as it were nobly impatient, faith of the man and the bearers.

σὺν τῷ κλινιδίῳ. ‘Little bed,’ probably a mere mat or mattress. It means the same as St Mark’s κράββατος, but that being a semi-Latin word (grabatum) would be more comprehensible to the Roman readers of St Mark than to the Greek readers of St Luke. St Luke not only avoids the vernacular word, but also its repetition (κλίνη, ἐφ’ ὅ κατέκειτο).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19.] This description is that of an eye-witness. For the genitive of place, which is mostly poetical, see Kühner, Gramm. § 523.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tiles. Wyc., has sclattis, slates.

Couch [κλινιδιω] . Luke uses four words for the beds of the sick : klinh, as verse 18, the general word for a bed or couch; krabbatov (Act 5:15; Act 9:33), a rude pallet (see on Mr 2:4); klinidion, a small couch or litter, as here, a couch so light that a woman could lift and carry it away. Thus, in the "Lysistrata" of Aristophanes, 916, Myrrine says : "Come now, let me carry our couch" [κλινιδιον] . The fourth term, klinarion (Act 5:15), cannot be accurately distinguished from the last. The last two are peculiar to Luke.

Into the midst before Jesus. See on Mr 2:4.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.