Luke 9:38

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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ἐπιβλέψαι

epiblépō

G1914

“to look upon”

Verb, Aorist, Active, Infinitive

Appears 3× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Luke 1:48

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G1909 and G991

TDNT: None

1. to turn the eyes upon, to look upon, gaze upon 2. to look up to, regard 3. to have regard for, to regard

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

20: words
18: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is ἐπιβλέψαι to look upon G1914 — appearing just 3 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

ἐπιβλέψαι to look upon G1914 occurs in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

Words recur within this verse:

τοῦ the G3588 ×2
μου I G1473 ×2

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Luke 9:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Zechariah 12:10 I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Matthew 15:22 Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely demonized!"
Luke 7:12 Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.
Luke 8:41–42 Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus' feet, and begged him to come into his house,
Genesis 44:20 We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.'

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Luke 9:38 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

9:38 my only child: The loss of an only son was especially tragic, since this left no one to carry on the family name (cp. 7:12; see Gen 22:16; 1 Kgs 17:17-24; Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10).

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

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Luk 9:38 . ἐπιβλέψαι , to look with pity, as in Luk 1:48 . μονογενής , only son, as in Luk 7:12 , Luk 8:42 . to bring out the benevolence of the miracle.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(38) A man of the company.—Better, a man from among the multitude.

Master.—Here St. Luke uses the more common word, which means “teacher.”

He is mine only child.—Note, as in the history of the widow of Nain (Luk_5:12), the tender sympathy shown in St. Luke’s narrative. He is the only Evangelist who calls attention to the fact.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

38. of the company] Rather, from the crowd.

Master] Rather, Teacher or Rahbi.

he is mine only child] See on Luk_8:42.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And Jesus answering, said,.... To the father of the child, and those that were with him; and with a particular view to the Scribes and Pharisees, who had been insulting the disciples, and triumphing over them, because of their inability to cast out the evil spirit: for the words are not spoken to the disciples, as they might seem at first view to be, and as the Persic version renders them, "and Jesus turned his face to the disciples, and said"; but to the unbelieving Jews,

O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? bring thy son hither; See Gill on Mat 17:17.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

A man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. The tender sympathy of St. Luke is shown in this little detail. He is the only evangelist who mentions that the poor tormented boy was an only child.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

38. ἐπιβλέψαι. The ἐπίβλεψον of Rec[190] rose from the infinitive being mistaken for an aor. imp. middle.

[190] Rec. The Textus Receptus.

38. ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου. ‘From the crowd.’

Διδάσκαλε. ‘Teacher’ or ‘Rabbi.’

ἐπιβλέψαι. See critical note. It is 1st aor. infin., not imperat. middle. The middle of the verb does not occur.

μονογενής μοι ἐστίν. See on Luk 8:42.

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.

Alford’s Greek Testament

Henry Alford

38.] μον. μοί ἐστιν is peculiar to Luke.

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

International Critical Commentary

38. For ἐβόησεν comp. 3:4, 18:7, 38, and for δέομαι see on 5:12.

ἐπιβλέψαι. 1 aor. inf. Act.; not ἐπίβλεψαι, 1 aor. imper. mid., a tense which perhaps does not occur. It means “to regard with pity”; 1:48; 1Sa 1:11, 1Sa 1:9:16; Ps. 24:16; Tobit 3:3, 15; Judith 13:4.—For the third time Lk. is alone in mentioning that a child is μονογενής: 7:12, 8:42. Comp. Heb 11:17; Tobit 3:15, 8:17; Jdg 11:34.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament

Marvin R. Vincent

Master [διδασκαλε] . Teacher.

Look upon [επιβλεψαι] . Only here and Jas 2:3. To look with pitying regard; and by medical writers of examining the condition of a patient.

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

Godet's Commentaries

Frédéric Louis Godet

5. The Cure of the Lunatic Child: Luk 9:37-43 a.

The following narrative is closely connected with the preceding in the three Syn. (Mat 17:14 et seq.; Mar 9:14 et seq.). There was a moral contrast which had helped tradition to keep the chronological thread.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Luke, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 20 words (18 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is epiblépō (“to look upon”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to look upon” (epiblépō) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Luke 1:48, which shares the word «to look upon», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “the” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Compare how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Expositor's Greek Testament read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 13 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 2× in this single verse.
18 distinct Greek lemmas span 20 words in this verse.