Luke 6:9 (LSB)

Passage

And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”

Nearby Context

Luke 6:7 And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He heals on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.

Luke 6:8 But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he stood up and came forward.

Luke 6:9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”

Luke 6:10 And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

Luke 6:11 But they themselves were filled with rage, and were discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jesus", "said", "lawful", "good", "harm", "sabbath", "save", and "life". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jesus" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "But He knew what they were thinking..." into verse 10's "And after looking around at them all...", so "jesus" and "said" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jesus" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.