Luke 8:41
in Luke 8Just then a synagogue leader named Jairus came and fell at Jesus’ feet. He begged Him to come to his house,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him to come into his house;
KJV
And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house:
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This verse in Luke 8
Commentary
17 notes on this verseBut when about to raise the dead, in order to bring faith to the ruler of the synagogue, He first cured the issue of blood. So also a temporal resurrection is celebrated at the Passion of our Lord, that the other might be believed to be eternal. But as he went, the people thronged him. Now mystically Christ had left the synagogue in Gerasa, and Him whom His own received not we strangers receive.
This site's exposition
the people gladly received him
on Luke 8:40-42
When Jesus returned, the people gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him, and there came a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who falls at his feet and besought him to come into his house, for he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. A ruler of the synagogue seeking out Jesus openly, at a moment when the religious establishment elsewhere resists him, is itself notable, and the bench reads a father's desperation overriding any caution about his office. As he went the people thronged him, the crowd's own pressure that produces the interrupting scene of the next verses.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
They maintain, further, that that girl of twelve years old, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, to whom the Lord approached and raised her from the dead, was a type of Achamoth, to whom their Christ, by extending himself, imparted shape, and whom he led anew to the perception of that light which had forsaken her.
When the woman with a hemorrhage learned that the Lord said to the leader of the synagogue, "Believe, and your daughter will live," she thought to herself that he who could bring back the soul of a little girl of twelve into her body would …
Christ foreknew his mystery, even before the foundations of the world. It was in the last ages of the world that he arose for the inhabitants of earth. Having borne the sin of the world, he abolished both it and death, which is its consequence and was brought upon us by its means. He plainly said, "I am the resurrection and the life," and "he that believes on me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life." We will see this fulfilled in facts. The ruler of the synagogue of the Jews came near and, embracing the Savior's knees, begged him to deliver his daughter from the bonds of death. Look, she already was brought down to this and was in extreme danger! The Savior consented and set out with him. He was even hurrying on to the house of the one who invited him and was aware that what was being done would profit many of those who followed him and would also be for his own glory.
(Vide Victor. Ant. in Mark 5.) The name is inserted for the sake of the Jews, who at that time well knew the event, that the name might be a demonstrative proof of the miracle. And there came not one of the lowest, but a ruler of the synagogue, that the mouths of the Jews might be the more closed. As it follows, And he was a ruler of the synagogue. Now he came to Christ because of his need; for grief sometimes urges us to do those things which are right, according to the Psalm, Hold their mouths with bit and bridle, who come not nigh unto thee. (Ps. 32:9.)
(ubi sup.) But the event which He adds, And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, must not be supposed to have taken place immediately, but first that of the feast of the publicans which Matthew mentions, (Matt. 9:18.) to which he so joins on this that it cannot consequently be understood to have happened otherwise.
10 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church5 voices
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. To the earlier reading, in which we interpreted about the rejection of the synagogue and the faith of the Church, and again about the restoration of the synagogue, is …
Through urgent need then he fell at His feet, as it follows, And he fell at Jesus' feet; but it were right for him without a pressing necessity to fall at Christ's feet and acknowledge Him to be God.
Or, by the ruler of the synagogue is understood Moses. Hence he is rightly called Jairus, that is, "enlightening" or "enlightened," as he who receives the words of life to give to us, thereby both enlightens others, and is himself also enlightened by the Holy Spirit. But the ruler of the synagogue fell at the feet of Jesus, because the lawgiver with the whole race of the patriarchs knew that Christ, appearing in the flesh, would be far preferred to them. For if the head of Christ is God, (1 Cor. 11:3.) His feet must agreeably to this be taken for the Incarnation, by which He touched the earth of our mortality. The ruler asked Him to enter into his house, because he was desirous to behold His coming. His only daughter is the Synagogue, which alone was framed with a legal institution; which at twelve years of age, that is, when the time of puberty was approaching, lay dying; for having been brought up nobly by the prophets, as soon as it came to years of discretion, when it ought to bring forth spiritual fruits to God, being suddenly subdued through its weakness and error, it forgot to enter the way of spiritual life, and unless Christ had come to its help, would have fallen away into destruction. But the Lord going to heal the girl is thronged by the crowd, because giving wholesome warnings to the Jewish nation, He was borne down by the customs of a carnal people.
And he fell at the feet of Jesus, begging him to enter his house. If the head of Christ is God, the feet consequently are the incarnation, by which He touched the land of our mortality. Therefore, the ruler of the synagogue fell at the …
Second, as regards the supplication of confidence made by the prince, it is added: And behold, there came a man whose name was Jairus, whose name is expressed because the person was notable by reason of his office of governance, according to what is said …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And behold, there came a man named Jairus,.... See Gill on Mar 5:22. and he was a ruler of the synagogue; at Capernaum; and it was the more remarkable, that such an one should come to Christ, and express any regard to his person, or faith in his power, and therefore a "behold" is prefixed to this account; See Gill on Mat 9:
What Christ made the constant business of his life --it was preaching; in that work he was indefatigable, and went about doing good (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
How much misery and trouble — sin has brought into the world! The passage we have just read affords a melancholy proof of this. First we see a distressed father in bitter anxiety about a dying daughter. Then we see a suffering woman , who has been afflicted twelve years with an incurable disease. And these are things which sin has sown broadcast over the whole earth! These are but examples of what is going on continually on every side.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
How much misery and trouble — sin has brought into the world! The passage we have just read affords a melancholy proof of this. First we see a distressed father in bitter anxiety about a dying daughter. Then we see a suffering woman , who has been afflicted twelve years with an incurable disease. And these are things which sin has sown broadcast over the whole earth! These are but examples of what is going on continually on every side. These are evils which God did not create at the beginning — but man has brought upon himself by the fall. There would have been no sorrow and no sickness among Adam's children — if there had been no sin! Let us see in the case of the woman here described — a striking picture of the condition of many souls. We are told that she had been afflicted with a wearing disease for "twelve years," and that she "had spent all she had upon physicians," and that she could not be healed by any of them. The state of many a sinner's heart is placed before us in this description as in a mirror. Perhaps it describes ourselves. There are men and women in most congregations who have felt their sins deeply — and been sorely afflicted by the thought that they are not forgiven and not fit to die. They have desired relief and peace of conscience — but have not known where to find them. They have tried many false remedies, and found themselves "nothing better — but rather worse!" They have gone the round of all the forms of religion, and wearied themselves with every imaginable man-made device for obtaining spiritual health. But all has been in vain. Peace of conscience seems as far off as ever. The wound within is a fretting, intractable sore, which nothing can heal. They are still wretched, still unhappy, still thoroughly discontented with their own state.
A man named Jairus - See these two miracles - the raising of Jairus’s daughter, and the cure of the afflicted woman - considered and explained at large, on Mat 9:18-26 (note), and Mark 5:22-43 (note).
The words behind it
27 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἰδοὺ | idou | behold | G2400 → | 200 times |
| ἦλθεν | elthen | came | G2064 → | 628 times |
| ἀνὴρ | aner | a man | G435 → | 216 times |
| ᾧ | ho | whose | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ὄνομα | onoma | name [was] | G3686 → | 227 times |
| Ἰάϊρος, | iairos | Jairus, | G2383 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| οὗτος | houtos | he | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἄρχων | archon | a ruler | G758 → | 37 times |
| τῆς | tes | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| συναγωγῆς | sunagoges | synagogue | G4864 → | 56 times |
| ὑπῆρχεν. | huperchen | was. | G5225 → | 60 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| πεσὼν | peson | having fallen | G4098 → | 90 times |
| παρὰ | para | at | G3844 → | 192 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πόδας | podas | feet | G4228 → | 93 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Ἰησοῦ | iesou | of Jesus | G2424 → | 908 times |
| παρεκάλει | parekalei | he was begging | G3870 → | 108 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| εἰσελθεῖν | eiselthein | to come | G1525 → | 194 times |
| εἰς | eis | to | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| οἶκον | oikon | house | G3624 → | 112 times |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of him | G846 → | 5565 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἰδοὺbehold
idouG2400 →200 times
ἦλθενcame
elthenG2064 →628 times
ἀνὴρa man
anerG435 →216 times
ᾧwhose
hoG3739 →1405 times
ὄνομαname [was]
onomaG3686 →227 times
Ἰάϊρος,Jairus,
iairosG2383 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
οὗτοςhe
houtosG3778 →1381 times
ἄρχωνa ruler
archonG758 →37 times
τῆςof the
tesG3588 →19766 times
συναγωγῆςsynagogue
sunagogesG4864 →56 times
ὑπῆρχεν.was.
huperchenG5225 →60 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
πεσὼνhaving fallen
pesonG4098 →90 times
παρὰat
paraG3844 →192 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
πόδαςfeet
podasG4228 →93 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
Ἰησοῦof Jesus
iesouG2424 →908 times
παρεκάλειhe was begging
parekaleiG3870 →108 times
αὐτὸνHim
autonG846 →5565 times
εἰσελθεῖνto come
eiseltheinG1525 →194 times
εἰςto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
οἶκονhouse
oikonG3624 →112 times
αὐτοῦof him
autouG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 13:14But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on…
it leads to
- Exodus 20:9
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
- Matthew 12:2
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
- John 9:14–16
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.
- Exodus 20:9
Through
Acts 13:15After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.”
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:22
I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.
- Acts 15:21
For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
- Hebrews 13:22
Through
Acts 18:8Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his whole household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard the message believed and were baptized.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 1:13–17
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
- Mark 16:15–16
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Romans 10:14–17
How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without…
- 1 Corinthians 1:13–17
Where this verse is studied
About Luke

This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 8; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 46; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 7.26; Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 8); J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Titus of Bostra, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.
