Luke 10:31
New International Version
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

New Living Translation
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.

English Standard Version
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.

Berean Standard Bible
Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Berean Literal Bible
Now by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and having seen him, he passed by on the opposite side.

King James Bible
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

New King James Version
Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

New American Standard Bible
And by coincidence a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

NASB 1995
“And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

NASB 1977
“And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Legacy Standard Bible
And a priest happened to be going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Amplified Bible
Now by coincidence a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Christian Standard Bible
A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

American Standard Version
And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“And it happened a certain priest was going down that road and he saw him and passed by.”

Contemporary English Version
A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by.

English Revised Version
And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went around him and continued on his way.

Good News Translation
It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side.

International Standard Version
By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went by on the other side.

Literal Standard Version
And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side;

Majority Standard Bible
Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

New American Bible
A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.

NET Bible
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side.

New Revised Standard Version
Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

New Heart English Bible
By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Webster's Bible Translation
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Weymouth New Testament
Now a priest happened to be going down that way, and on seeing him passed by on the other side.

World English Bible
By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Young's Literal Translation
'And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
30Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.…

Cross References
Isaiah 58:7
Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Luke 10:30
Jesus took up this question and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

Luke 10:32
So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.


Treasury of Scripture

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

by.

Ruth 2:3
And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

2 Samuel 1:6
And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

Ecclesiastes 9:11
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

priest.

Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Hosea 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

Hosea 6:9
And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

he passed.

Job 6:14-21
To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty…

Psalm 38:10,11
My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me…

Psalm 69:20
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

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Chance Opposite Passed Priest Road Side Way
Luke 10
1. Jesus sends out at once seventy disciples to work miracles, and to preach;
13. pronounces a woe against certain cities.
17. The seventy return with joy;
18. he shows them wherein to rejoice,
21. and thanks his Father for his grace;
23. magnifies the happy estate of his church;
25. teaches the lawyer how to attain eternal life,
30. and tells the parable of the good Samaritan;
38. reprimands Martha, and commends Mary her sister.














(31) By chance. . . .--The passage is the only one in the New Testament in which the phrase occurs. Our Lord seems to use it as with a touch of what we have elsewhere termed irony. It seemed so casual, as such opportunities always do to men who neglect them, and yet it was, in the purpose of God, the test-moment of each man's character and life.

There came down.--Better, as before, there was going down.

A certain priest.--Jericho was at this time a priestly city, and so the journey of the priest from Jerusalem, as if returning from his week of sacerdotal offices there, has a touch of vivid naturalness. He, too, like the questioner, had been doing his duty to God, according to his measure of that duty.

Passed by on the other side.--The priest shrank, it might be, (1) from the trouble and peril of meddling with a man whom robbers had just attacked, and (2) from the fear of incurring a ceremonial defilement by coming into contact with what might possibly be a corpse before he reached it. He accordingly "passed by on the other side," not of the road only, but of the ravine through which the road passed.

Verse 31. - There came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Both the priest and Levite were frequent travellers along this road between the capital and Jericho. Jericho was especially a city of priests, and when the allotted service or residence time at the temple was over, these would return naturally to their own homes. It has been remarked that the grave censure which this story levels at the everyday want of charity on the part of priests and Levites, fills up what would otherwise have been a blank in the Master's many-sided teaching. Nowhere else in the gospel narrative do we find our Lord taking up the attitude of censor of the priestly and Levitical orders. We have little difficulty in discovering reasons for this apparently strange reticence. They were still the official guardians and ministers of his Father's house. In his public teaching, as a rule, he would refrain from touching these or their hollow, pretentious lives. Once, and once only, in this one parable did he dwell - but even here with no severe denunciations, as in the case of scribes and Pharisees - on the shortcomings of the priestly caste. The bitter woe was fast coming on these degenerate children of Aaron. In less than half a century, that house, the glory and the joy of Israel, would be utterly destroyed, net to be raised again. No woe that the Christ could pronounce could be as crushing in its pitiless condemnation. The very reason for the existence of priest and Levite as priest and Levite would exist no longer. The selfish life of the doomed order, in which holiness seemed effectually to have been divorced from charity, is portrayed in the lifelike picture of the parable of the good Samaritan.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Now
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

by
Κατὰ (Kata)
Preposition
Strong's 2596: A primary particle; down, in varied relations (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined).

chance
συγκυρίαν (synkyrian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4795: A coincidence, accident, chance. From a comparative of sun and kureo; concurrence, i.e. Accident.

a
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

priest
ἱερεύς (hiereus)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2409: A priest, one who offers sacrifice to a god (in Jewish and pagan religions; of Christians only met.). From hieros; a priest.

was going down
κατέβαινεν (katebainen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2597: To go down, come down, either from the sky or from higher land, descend. From kata and the base of basis; to descend.

the same
ἐκείνῃ (ekeinē)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1565: That, that one there, yonder. From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed.

road,
ὁδῷ (hodō)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3598: A way, road, journey, path. Apparently a primary word; a road; by implication, a progress; figuratively, a mode or means.

but
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

when he saw
ἰδὼν (idōn)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

him,
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

he passed by on the other side.
ἀντιπαρῆλθεν (antiparēlthen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 492: To pass opposite, on the opposite side of the road. From anti and parerchomai; to go along opposite.


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NT Gospels: Luke 10:31 By chance a certain priest was going (Luke Lu Lk)
Luke 10:30
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