Luke 7 NASB covers one of the most theologically concentrated chapters in the gospel, four distinct episodes that each press on the same question from a different angle: who has faith, and what does Jesus do with it?
The New American Standard Bible renders Luke 7 with its characteristic literalness, staying close to the Greek syntax while remaining readable. That makes it a strong choice for verse-by-verse study. This guide walks through the chapter section by section, notes what the NASB translation choices highlight, and flags the moments worth slowing down on.
[Link: Read Luke 7 NASB full chapter]
Luke 7:1-10: The Centurion’s Servant
The chapter opens in Capernaum. A Roman centurion’s servant is ill, described in verse 2 as “seriously ill and about to die.” The NASB uses “highly regarded” (entimos) to describe the servant, a word that means honored or valued, not merely useful. That detail matters. The centurion isn’t asking Jesus to protect an asset. He’s asking for someone he genuinely cares about.
What follows is one of the few times Jesus expresses explicit astonishment. Verse 9 in the NASB reads: “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, ‘I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.’”
The centurion never meets Jesus face to face. He sends intermediaries twice, first Jewish elders, then friends, and his message to Jesus is essentially an argument from authority and unworthiness at the same time. He understands command structure. He says, “just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (v. 7). The NASB preserves the directness of that logic.
For study purposes, notice the Greek word used for the servant in verse 2 is doulos (slave/servant), while verse 7 switches to pais (which can mean boy, son, or servant). The NASB uses “servant” consistently, which is defensible but worth noting for anyone doing word studies.
[Link: Centurion’s faith in Luke’s Gospel]
Luke 7:11-17: The Widow of Nain
This episode has no request. No one asks Jesus to do anything. He sees a funeral procession leaving the town of Nain, and verse 13 in the NASB says: “When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’”
The word translated “felt compassion” is esplanchnisthē, a visceral term rooted in the Greek word for internal organs. It’s used sparingly in the Synoptics and always of Jesus in high-stakes moments. The NASB’s choice of “felt compassion” is more vivid than some translations that flatten it to “had compassion.”
Jesus touches the bier (the open coffin or stretcher), which would render him ceremonially unclean under Mosaic law. He doesn’t hesitate. He speaks directly to the dead young man: “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (v. 14). The crowd’s reaction in verse 16 draws the comparison to Elijah raising the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17. Luke’s original readers would have caught that echo immediately.
This is a useful passage when comparing Luke’s portrayal of Jesus as a prophet in the tradition of Elijah and Elisha. [Link: Elijah and Elisha parallels in Luke]
Luke 7:18-35: John’s Question and Jesus’ Answer
John the Baptist, now in Herod’s prison, sends his disciples to ask Jesus a question that sounds almost like doubt: “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” (v. 19, NASB).
This passage gets misread. John isn’t necessarily doubting Jesus personally. He may be asking on behalf of his disciples, or he may be asking Jesus to declare himself plainly. Whatever the case, Jesus doesn’t rebuke the question. He answers it with evidence: “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (v. 22, NASB).
That list is drawn from Isaiah 35 and 61. Jesus is not giving John a theological argument. He’s pointing to observable reality and letting Isaiah’s descriptions of the coming kingdom speak for themselves.
Verses 24-35 then turn to the crowd and raise the question of how they have responded to both John and Jesus. The NASB renders verse 35 as “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children,” a cryptic line that essentially means the fruit will show who understood rightly.
[Link: John the Baptist in Luke’s Gospel]
Luke 7:36-50: The Sinful Woman and Simon the Pharisee
This is arguably the chapter’s most discussed passage. A woman described only as a sinner (the Greek hamartōlos used in the NASB is the same word used for general moral failure) enters a Pharisee’s dinner, weeps at Jesus’ feet, wipes his feet with her hair, and anoints them with perfume.
Simon the Pharisee thinks this disqualifies Jesus as a prophet. His reasoning: a real prophet would know what kind of woman this is. Jesus responds with a short parable about two debtors, one forgiven a large sum, one a small sum, and asks Simon which debtor would love the creditor more. Simon answers correctly. Then Jesus turns the parable back on the situation in front of them.
The NASB translates verse 47 carefully: “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” This is a line that has been debated theologically for centuries. Does her love cause the forgiveness, or does the forgiveness cause the love? The Greek hoti (translated “for”) can indicate either reason or evidence. The NASB leaves this ambiguity intact rather than resolving it for the reader.
Jesus then says directly to her in verse 48: “Your sins have been forgiven.” The people at the table immediately ask, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” The same question the chapter has been building toward in different forms since verse 1.
[Link: Forgiveness and faith in Luke 7]
Reading Luke 7 in the NASB: Practical Notes
A few things worth keeping in mind when working through this chapter in the NASB specifically. The translation’s commitment to formal equivalence means Greek word-study observations generally hold. When the NASB uses an unusual English word, it usually signals an unusual Greek word underneath. The choices noted above, entimos, esplanchnisthē, hoti, are cases where the NASB’s rendering rewards closer attention rather than paraphrase.
Luke 7 also rewards reading as a unit rather than as isolated passages. Each episode, the centurion’s confident faith, the widow’s passive grief, John’s pointed question, the woman’s extravagant act, positions a different kind of person before Jesus and shows a different response. The thread running through all of them is Jesus’ own initiative. He commends faith where he finds it, generates it where it’s absent, and forgives it where it’s long been covered over.
[Link: Read Luke 7 NASB full chapter]