The Meaning of Luke 13:16 Explained

Luke 13:16

KJV: And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

YLT: and this one, being a daughter of Abraham, whom the Adversary bound, lo, eighteen years, did it not behove to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day?'

Darby: And this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, ought she not to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

ASV: And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  ought  not  this woman,  being  a daughter  of Abraham,  whom  Satan  hath bound,  lo,  these eighteen  years,  be loosed  from  this  bond  on the sabbath  day? 

What does Luke 13:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 13:10-17 - Good Work For The Sabbath
There was in this woman a noble principle which led her to persevere in attending God's house, although there was much to discourage her. Probably she was animated by a faith which made her specially susceptible to the healing word of Christ. Infirmity of any kind should drive us to the house of God. We shall meet Jesus there. When He says, loosed, all the powers of hell cannot bind us down. "He breaks the power of cancelled sin."
The charge of Sabbath-breaking by these men was very unreasonable, because on that very morning each of them had unloosened his beast to lead him to the wellhead. And if it was not wrong, in their judgment, to untie a beast, surely it would not be wrong to untie the knotted disease that bound this woman's head to her feet by an invisible thong! Great human needs must have precedence over the observance of details of ritual. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 13

1  Jesus preaches repentance upon the punishment of the Galilaeans and others
6  The fruitless fig tree may not stand
10  He heals the crooked woman;
18  shows the powerful working of the word, by the parable of the grain of mustard seed,
20  and of leaven;
22  exhorts to enter in at the strait gate;
31  and reproves Herod and Jerusalem

Greek Commentary for Luke 13:16

Daughter of Abraham [τυγατερα Αβρααμ]
Triple argument, human being and not an ox or ass, woman, daughter of Abraham (Jewess), besides being old and ill. [source]
Ought not [ουκ εδει]
Imperfect active. Of necessity. Jesus simply had to heal her even if on the sabbath. Whom Satan bound (ην εδησεν ο Σατανας — hēn edēsen ho Satanas). Definite statement that her disease was due to Satan. [source]
Whom Satan bound [ην εδησεν ο Σατανας]
Definite statement that her disease was due to Satan. [source]
Satan []
“True to its principle of contrast, this book gives Satan a prominent position” (Abbot). See Luke 4:13; Luke 10:18; Luke 22:3, Luke 22:31. See Introduction. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 13:16

Matthew 8:29 Thou Son of God [υιε του τεου]
The recognition of Jesus by the demons is surprising. The whole subject of demonology is difficult. Some hold that it is merely the ancient way of describing disease. But that does not explain the situation here. Jesus is represented as treating the demons as real existences separate from the human personality. Missionaries in China today claim that they have seen demons cast out. The devil knew Jesus clearly and it is not strange that Jesus was recognized by the devil‘s agents. They know that there is nothing in common between them and the Son of God Usually τα δαιμονια — ta daimonia is the word in the New Testament for demons, but in Matthew 8:31 we have οι δαιμονες — hoi daimones (the only example in the N.T.). Δαιμονιον — Daimonion is a diminutive of δαιμων — daimōn In Homer δαιμων — daimōn is used synonymously with τεος — theos and τεα — thea Hesiod employed δαιμων — daimōn of men of the golden age as tutelary deities. Homer has the adjective δαιμονιος — daimonios usually in an evil sense. Empedocles considered the demons both bad and good. They were thus used to relieve the gods and goddesses of much rascality. Grote (History of Greece) notes that the Christians were thus by pagan usage justified in calling idolatry the worship of demons. See notes on 1 Corinthians 10:20.; note on 1 Timothy 4:1; note on Revelation 9:20; and notes on Revelation 16:13. In the Gospels demons are the same as unclean spirits (Mark 5:12, Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). The demons are disturbers (Vincent) of the whole life of man (Mark 5:2.; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45; Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16). [source]
Mark 1:34 Devils [δαιμόνια]
The Rev., unfortunately, and against the protest of the American committee, retains devils instead of rendering demons. See on Matthew 4:1. The New Testament uses two kindred words to denote the evil spirits which possessed men, and which were so often east out by Christ: διάμων , of which demon is a transcript, and which occurs, according to the best texts, only at Matthew 8:31; and δαιμόνιον , which is not a diminutive, but the neuter of the adjective δαιμόνιος ,of, or belonging to a demon. The cognate verb is δαιμονίζομαι to be possessed with a demon, as in Mark 1:32. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Perhaps δαίω , to distribute, since the deities allot the fates of men. Plato derives it from δαήμων , knowing or wise. In Hesiod, as in Pythagoras, Thales, and Plutarch, the word δαίμων is used of men of the golden age, acting as tutelary deities, and forming the link between gods and men. Socrates, in Plato's “Cratylus,” quotes Hesiod as follows: “Socrates: You know how Hesiod uses the word? Hermogenes: Indeed I do not. Soc.: Do you not remember that he speaks of a golden race of men who came first? Her.: Yes, I know that. Soc.: He says of them,But now that fate has closed over this race,They are holy demons upon earth,Beneficent, averters of ills, guardians of mortal men.'”After some further conversation, Socrates goes on: “And therefore I have the most entire conviction that he called them demons, because they were δαήμονες (knowing or wise )Now, he and other poets say truly that, when a good man dies, he has honor and a mighty portion among the dead, and becomes a demon, which is a name given to him signifying wisdom. And I say, too, that every wise man who happens to be a good man is more than human ( δαιμόνιον ) both in life and death, and is rightly called a demon.” Mr. Grote (“History of Greece”) observes that in Hesiod demons are “invisible tenants of the earth, remnants of the once happy golden race whom the Olympic gods first made - the unseen police of the gods, for the purpose of repressing wicked behavior in the world.” In later Greek the word came to be used of any departed soul. In Homer δαίμων is used synonymously with θεός and θεά , god and goddess, and the moral quality of the divinity is determined by the context: but most commonly of the divine power or agency, like the Latin numen, the deity considered as a power rather than as a person. Homer does not use δαιμόνιον substantively, but as an adjective, always in the vocative case, and with a sorrowful or reproachful sense, indicating that the person addressed is in some astonishing or strange condition. Therefore, as a term of reproach - wretch! sirrah! madman! (“Iliad,” 2:190,200; 4:31; ix., 40). Occasionally in an admiring or respectful sense (“Odyssey,” xiv., 443; xxiii., 174); Excellent stranger! noble sir! Homer also uses δαίμων of one's genius or attendant spirit, and thence of one's lot orfortune. So in the beautiful simile of the sick father (“Odyssey,” 5:396), “Some malignant genius has assailed him.” Compare “Odyssey,” x., 64; xi., 61. Hence, later, the phrase κατὰ δαίμονα is nearly equivalent to by chance. We have seen that, in Homer, the bad sense of δαιμόνοις is the prevailing one. In the tragedians, also, δαίμων , though used both of good and bad fortune, occurs more frequently in the latter sense, and toward this sense the word gravitates more and more. The undertone of Greek thought, which tended to regard no man happy until he had escaped from life (see on Matthew 5:3, blessed )naturally imparted a gloomy and forbidding character to those who were supposed to allot the destinies of life. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In classical Greek it is noticeable that the abstract τὸ δαιμόνιον fell into the background behind δαίμων , with the development in the latter of the notion of a fate or genius connected with each individual, as the demon of Socrates; while in biblical Greek the process is the reverse, this doctrine being rejected for that of an overruling personal providence, and the strange gods, “obscure to human knowledge and alien to human life,” taking the abstract term uniformly in an evil sense. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, of Sicily, developed Hesiod's distinction; making the demons of a mixed nature between gods and men, not only the link between the two, but having an agency and disposition of their own; not immortal, but long-lived, and subject to the passions and propensities of men. While in Hesiod the demons are all good, according to Empedocles they are both bad and good. This conception relieved the gods of the responsibility for proceedings unbecoming the divine nature. The enormities which the older myths ascribed directly to the gods - thefts, rapes, abductions - were the doings of bad demons. It also saved the credit of the old legends, obviating the necessity of pronouncing either that the gods were unworthy or the legends untrue. “Yet, though devised for the purpose of satisfying a more scrupulous religious sensibility, it was found inconvenient afterward when assailants arose against paganism generally. For while it abandoned as indefensible a large portion of what had once been genuine faith, it still retained the same word demons with an entirely altered signification. The Christian writers in their controversies found ample warrant among the earlier pagan authors for treating all the gods as demons; and not less ample warrant among the later pagans for denouncing the demons generally as evil beings” (Grote, “History of Greece”). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
This evil sense the words always bear in the New Testament as well as in the Septuagint. Demons are synonymous with unclean spirits (Mark 5:12, Mark 5:15; Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30; Luke 4:33). They appear in connection with Satan (Luke 10:17, Luke 10:18; Luke 11:18, Luke 11:19); they are put in opposition to the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 10:21); to the faith (1 Timothy 4:1). They are connected with idolatry (Revelation 9:20; Revelation 16:13, Revelation 16:14). They are special powers of evil, influencing and disturbing the physical, mental, and moral being (Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16; Mark 5:2-5; Mark 7:25; Matthew 12:45). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

Luke 22:3 Satan []
See on Luke 13:16. [source]
Luke 13:11 Spirit of infirmity []
A spirit which caused infirmity. An evil demon, see Luke 13:16, though it is not certain that it was a case of possession. The details of the disease, and the noting of the time of its continuance, are characteristic of a physician's narrative. [source]
Acts 10:38 God anointed him [εχρισεν αυτον ο τεος]
First aorist active of the verb διηλτεν ευεργετων — chriō to anoint, from which the verbal διερεομαι — Christos is formed (Acts 2:36). The precise event referred to by Peter could be the Incarnation (Luke 1:35.), the Baptism (Luke 3:22), the Ministry at Nazareth (Luke 4:14). Why not to the life and work of Jesus as a whole? Went about doing good (δια — diēlthen euergetōn). Beautiful description of Jesus. Summary (constative) aorist active of ευεργετων — dierehomai to go through (ευεργετεω — dia) or from place to place. The present active participle ευ — euergetōn is from the old verb εργον — euergeteō (ευεργετης — eu well, και ιωμενος — ergon work) and occurs only here in the N.T. The substantive τους καταδυναστευομενους — euergetēs (benefactor) was often applied to kings like Ptolemy Euergetes and that is the sense in Luke 22:25 the only N.T. example. But the term applies to Jesus far more than to Ptolemy or any earthly king (Cornelius a Lapide). And healing And in particular healing. Luke does not exclude other diseases (cf. Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16), but he lays special emphasis on demoniacal possession (cf. Mark 1:23). That were oppressed (κατα — tous katadunasteuomenous). Present passive articular participle of διαβολος — katadunasteuō A late verb in lxx and papyri. In the N.T. only here and James 2:6 (best MSS.). One of the compounds of οτι ο τεος ην μετ αυτου — kata made transitive. The reality of the devil (the slanderer, diabolos) is recognized by Peter. For God was with him Surely this reason does not reveal “a low Christology” as some charge. Peter had used the same language in Acts 7:9 and earlier in Luke 1:28, Luke 1:66 as Nicodemus does in John 3:2. [source]
Acts 10:38 And healing [καταδυναστευω]
And in particular healing. Luke does not exclude other diseases (cf. Luke 13:11, Luke 13:16), but he lays special emphasis on demoniacal possession (cf. Mark 1:23). That were oppressed (κατα — tous katadunasteuomenous). Present passive articular participle of διαβολος — katadunasteuō A late verb in lxx and papyri. In the N.T. only here and James 2:6 (best MSS.). One of the compounds of οτι ο τεος ην μετ αυτου — kata made transitive. The reality of the devil (the slanderer, diabolos) is recognized by Peter. For God was with him Surely this reason does not reveal “a low Christology” as some charge. Peter had used the same language in Acts 7:9 and earlier in Luke 1:28, Luke 1:66 as Nicodemus does in John 3:2. [source]
1 Corinthians 5:5  []
d To deliver - unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. On this very obscure and much controverted passage it may be observed: 1. That it implies excommunication from the Church. 2. That it implies something more, the nature of which is not clearly known. 3. That casting the offender out of the Church involved casting him back into the heathen world, which Paul habitually conceives as under the power of Satan. 4. That Paul has in view the reformation of the offender: “that the spirit may be saved,” etc. This reformation is to be through affliction, disease, pain, or loss, which also he is wont to conceive as Satan's work. See 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 12:7. Compare Luke 13:16. Hence in delivering him over to these he uses the phrase deliver unto Satan. Compare 1 Timothy 1:20. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

2 Corinthians 12:7 Messenger of Satan [ἄγγελος Σατᾶν]
The torment is thus personified. Messenger is the word commonly rendered angel in the New Testament, though sometimes used of human messengers, as Luke 7:24, Luke 7:27; Luke 9:52; James 2:25; see also on the angels of the churches, Revelation 1:20. Messenger and Satan are not to be taken in apposition - a messenger who was Satan - because Satan is never called ἄγγελος in the New Testament. Messenger is figurative, in the sense of agent. Satan is conceived in the New Testament as the originator of bodily evil. Thus, in the gospel narrative, demoniac possession is often accompanied with some form of disease. Compare Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38, and see on 1 Corinthians 5:5. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 13:16 mean?

This now a daughter of Abraham being whom has bound - Satan behold ten and eight years not ought [she] to be loosed from the bond this on the day of the Sabbath
ταύτην δὲ θυγατέρα Ἀβραὰμ οὖσαν ἣν ἔδησεν Σατανᾶς ἰδοὺ δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη οὐκ ἔδει λυθῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τούτου τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου

ταύτην  This 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
δὲ  now 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
θυγατέρα  a  daughter 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: θυγάτηρ  
Sense: a daughter.
Ἀβραὰμ  of  Abraham 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: Ἀβραάμ  
Sense: the son of Terah and the founder of the Jewish nation.
οὖσαν  being 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
ἣν  whom 
Parse: Personal / Relative Pronoun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ὅς 
Sense: who, which, what, that.
ἔδησεν  has  bound 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: δέω  
Sense: to bind tie, fasten.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Σατανᾶς  Satan 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: Σατανᾶς  
Sense: adversary (one who opposes another in purpose or act), the name given to.
ἰδοὺ  behold 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: ἰδού  
Sense: behold, see, lo.
δέκα  ten 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: δέκα 
Sense: ten.
ὀκτὼ  eight 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ὀκτώ  
Sense: eight.
ἔτη  years 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ἔτος  
Sense: year.
ἔδει  ought  [she] 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: δεῖ  
Sense: it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper.
λυθῆναι  to  be  loosed 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Passive
Root: λύω  
Sense: to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened.
δεσμοῦ  bond 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: δεσμός  
Sense: a band or bond.
τούτου  this 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
τῇ  on  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἡμέρᾳ  day 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: ἡμέρα  
Sense: the day, used of the natural day, or the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night.
τοῦ  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
σαββάτου  Sabbath 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: σάββατον  
Sense: the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work.