Luke 6:39
New International Version
He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?

New Living Translation
Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch?

English Standard Version
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Berean Standard Bible
Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Berean Literal Bible
And He spoke a parable also to them. "Is a blind man able to lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

King James Bible
And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

New King James Version
And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?

New American Standard Bible
Now He also spoke a parable to them: “A person who is blind cannot guide another who is blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

NASB 1995
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

NASB 1977
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Legacy Standard Bible
And He also spoke a parable to them: “Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Amplified Bible
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man guide [another] blind man? Will they not both fall into a hole in the ground?

Christian Standard Bible
He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?

American Standard Version
And he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he told them a parable: “Can a blind man to lead a blind man? Will not both of them fall into a ditch?”

Contemporary English Version
Jesus also used some sayings as he spoke to the people. He said: Can one blind person lead another blind person? Won't they both fall into a ditch?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? do they not both fall into the ditch?

English Revised Version
And he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Jesus also gave them this illustration: "Can one blind person lead another? Won't both fall into the same pit?

Good News Translation
And Jesus told them this parable: "One blind man cannot lead another one; if he does, both will fall into a ditch.

International Standard Version
He also told them a parable: "One blind person can't lead another blind person, can he? Both will fall into a ditch, won't they?

Literal Standard Version
And He spoke an allegory to them, “Is blind able to lead blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Majority Standard Bible
Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

New American Bible
And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?

NET Bible
He also told them a parable: "Someone who is blind cannot lead another who is blind, can he? Won't they both fall into a pit?

New Revised Standard Version
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?

New Heart English Bible
He spoke a parable to them. "Can the blind guide the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit?

Webster's Bible Translation
And he spoke a parable to them; Can the blind lead the blind? will they not both fall into the ditch?

Weymouth New Testament
He also spoke to them in figurative language. "Can a blind man lead a blind man?" He asked; "would not both fall into the ditch?

World English Bible
He spoke a parable to them. “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?

Young's Literal Translation
And he spake a simile to them, 'Is blind able to lead blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Do Not Judge
38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” 39 Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.…

Cross References
Matthew 13:3
And He told them many things in parables, saying, "A farmer went out to sow his seed.

Matthew 15:14
Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."


Treasury of Scripture

And he spoke a parable to them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

Can.

Isaiah 9:16
For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

Isaiah 56:10
His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

Matthew 15:14
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

shall.

Jeremiah 6:15
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:12
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 14:15,16
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed…

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Luke 6
1. Jesus reproves the Pharisees;
12. chooses apostles;
17. heals the diseased;
20. preaches to his disciples before the people: the beattitudes;
27. Love your Enemy
37. Do not Judge
43. A Tree and Its Fruit
46. The House on the Rock














(39) And he spake a parable unto them.--The verse is noticeable (1) as causing a break in the discourse which has no parallel in the Sermon on the Mount; (2) as giving an example of the wider sense of the word "parable," as applicable to any proverbial saying that involved a similitude. On the proverb itself, quoted in a very different context, see Note on Matthew 15:14. Here its application is clear enough. The man who judges and condemns another is as the blind leader of the blind. Assuming St. Paul to have known the Sermon on the Plain, we may trace an echo of the words in the "guide of the blind" of Romans 2:19.

Verse 39. - And he spake a parable unto them. St. Luke closes his report of the great sermon with four little parables taken from everyday life. With these pictures drawn from common life, the Master purposed to bring home to the hearts of the men and women listening to him the solemn warnings he had just been enunciating. They - if they would be his followers - must indeed refrain from ever setting up themselves as judges of others. "See," he went on to say, "I will show you what ruin this wicked, ungenerous practice will result in: listen to me." Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? It is not improbable that some of the links in the Master's argument here have been omitted by St. Luke; still, the connection of this saying and what follows, with the preceding grave warning against the bitter censorious spirit which had exercised so fatal an influence on religious teaching in Israel, is clear. The figure of the blind man setting himself up as a guide was evidently in the Lord's mind as a fair representation of the present thought-leaders of the people (the Pharisees). This is evident from the imagery of the beam and mote which follows (vers. 41, 42). Can these blind guides lead others more ignorant and blind too? What is the natural result? he asks; will not destruction naturally overtake the blind leader and the blind led? Both will, of course, end by falling into the ditch.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[Jesus] also told
Εἶπεν (Eipen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

them
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
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.

a parable:
παραβολὴν (parabolēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3850: From paraballo; a similitude, i.e. fictitious narrative, apothegm or adage.

“Can
δύναται (dynatai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1410: (a) I am powerful, have (the) power, (b) I am able, I can. Of uncertain affinity; to be able or possible.

a blind [man]
τυφλὸς (typhlos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5185: Blind, physically or mentally. From, tuphoo; opaque, i.e. blind.

lead
ὁδηγεῖν (hodēgein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 3594: To lead, guide; met: I instruct, teach. From hodegos; to show the way (teach).

a blind [man]?
τυφλὸν (typhlon)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5185: Blind, physically or mentally. From, tuphoo; opaque, i.e. blind.

{Will they} not
οὐχὶ (ouchi)
IntPrtcl
Strong's 3780: By no means, not at all. Intensive of ou; not indeed.

both
ἀμφότεροι (amphoteroi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 297: Both (of two). Comparative of amphi; both.

fall
ἐμπεσοῦνται (empesountai)
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1706: To fall in, be cast in, be involved in. From en and pipto; to fall on, i.e. to be entrapped by, or be overwhelmed with.

into
εἰς (eis)
Preposition
Strong's 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases.

a pit?
βόθυνον (bothynon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 999: A pit, ditch. Akin to bathuno; a hole; specially, a cistern.


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NT Gospels: Luke 6:39 He spoke a parable to them (Luke Lu Lk)
Luke 6:38
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