“Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?”
The full verse · Luke 13:15 · KJV
The , , Thou , each of on the his the , lead him to ?
Asked by
Jesus: the Son of God and promised Messiah, teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath, where He had just healed a woman bowed together for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-13)
Asked to
Synagogue Leader: "the ruler of the synagogue," who answered with indignation because Jesus had healed on the sabbath and told the people to come and be healed on the other six days (Luke 13:14)
The Scene
Jesus has healed a woman bowed over for eighteen years, and the ruler of the synagogue tells the people to come for healing on the six work days, "and not on the sabbath day" (Luke 13:10-14).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJesus exposes a double standard. The ruler treated healing as forbidden work, yet he and others untied their animals and led them to water every sabbath. Barnes sums up Jesus' point: "You condemn me for an action, and yet you perform one exactly similar." Jesus calls him "hypocrite" because his objection looked like zeal for God's day but was not consistent. Gill describes him as one "who covered his malice and envy at Christ, with a show of zeal for the sabbath day." The words "each one of you" show that Jesus is answering everyone who shared the ruler's view.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe answer was obvious: yes, they did care for their animals on the sabbath. Jesus then presses the point with a second question about the woman, a "daughter of Abraham" bound "these eighteen years" (Luke 13:16). Luke records the result: "all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him" (Luke 13:17). No reply is recorded.
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsThe sabbath was the seventh day, set apart for rest from work under the Law. The ruler of the synagogue oversaw its meetings. Gill notes that the Jews' own rules made allowance for watering cattle on the sabbath, by drawing water and pouring it out for the animals to drink.
"Stall" translates phatne, a stall or manger (feeding trough). The verb "loose" is luo, to untie or release. Scrivener's Textus Receptus, the Greek text behind the KJV, has the singular "hypocrite" (hupokrita), while the critical Greek texts behind the ESV have the plural "hypocrites."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows that God's law was never meant to keep people from mercy. Jesus did not set the sabbath aside. He showed what it was for. Matthew Henry imagines Jesus' argument: if the ox and the ass are loosed and led "perhaps a great way to the water, and then back again," shall not this woman, "only with a touch of the hand and a word's speaking," be loosed from a much greater grievance?
The same kind of question appears again when Jesus heals a man with dropsy (Luke 14:5), and in Matthew 12:11-12 He concludes, "it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." Each time, Jesus uses people's own care for their animals to show how much more a suffering person should be helped.
Look Closer
What did the ruler of the synagogue object to?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, where have I made rules that protect my own convenience but stand in the way of someone receiving Your mercy?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Why is it easy to see inconsistency in others but hard to see it in yourself?
- Share a time when someone showed you mercy that went beyond what the "rules" required. How did it affect you?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
It is possible to defend God's commands in a way that misses God's heart. The ruler was careful about the sabbath but upset that a suffering woman was healed. Jesus calls that hypocrisy.
Watch for double standards in your own life: being generous where it costs you little and strict where it helps someone else. Let mercy shape the way you hold God's commands.
This does not mean God's commands do not matter. Jesus did not say the sabbath was unimportant. He showed that doing good to a person in need fits God's purpose for His day.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“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?”
“Unto what is the kingdom of God like? And whereunto shall I resemble it?”
“Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?”