And he said unto them, take nothing for your journey
Throughout the towns and cities of Judea, where they were sent to preach the Gospel:
neither staves,
The Latin Vulgate version, and all the Oriental versions, read in the singular number, "neither staff, rod, or club"; and so it was in one of Theodore Beza's ancient copies, but in all the rest in the plural, as in Matthew; which last must be the true reading, since one staff was allowed, according as in though more than one were forbidden:
nor scrip;
or bag to put provision in;.
Neither bread, neither money;
gold, silver, or brass, to buy bread with; because they were to have it, wherever they came, given them, as their due, and the reward of their labour;
neither have two coats apiece;
the word "apiece" is left out in one copy, nor is it expressed in the Vulgate Latin and the eastern versions, which read as in though the word does aptly and clearly express the sense of the prohibition, which was not that they should not have two coats among them, but not two apiece; or each man should not have two, or have change of raiment.
Herod seeks to see Jesus
Verse 7
Herod the Tetrarch was Herod Antipas. has the briefer words "When Herod heard". In his critical commentary, Heinrich Meyer suggests that Luke "evidently had before him" and added "a definite object", namely "everything which was done", whereby is meant, "which was done by Jesus".
Verse 8
The Old TestamentprophetElijah is mentioned five times in this chapter, here and at verses 19, 30, 33 and in some witnesses, verse 54.
Verse 9
A "glowing reception at court" might have awaited Jesus, but it did not materialise.
Also known as the "miracle of the five loaves and two fish" given that five loaves and two fish were used by Jesus to feed a multitude. According to the Gospels, when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place near Bethsaida. The crowds followed Jesus on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." Jesus said they do not need togo away therefore the disciples were to give them something to eat. They said they only had five loaves of bread and two fish then Jesus asked them to bring what they had to him. Jesus directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men.
The section from verse 51 of this chapter to contains an account of the "Perean and Later Judean Ministry", covering the period between Jesus' final departure from Galilee and the final week of his ministry. It took place partly in Perea, and partly Judea. Perea, east of Jordan, was in Herod's jurisdiction, whereas Judea, west of Jordan, was in Pilate's jurisdiction. The Jerusalem Bible refers to this lengthy section as "The Journey to Jerusalem".
Verse 52
Nicoll notes that it is sometimes referred to as the "Samaritan ministry": initially Jesus' disciples visit a Samaritan village, where they are not well-received, and they continue to "another village", probably back in Galilee. F. W. Farrar raised the possibility that the Samaritan village was En Gannim, now Jenin in the northern West Bank, "the first village at which would arrive".
