Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Luke 8:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Luke 8:3 names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission.
Read It With
- Luke 8:1–8:3
Read Luke 8:3 with 8:1–8:3. In isolation, this contribution—names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission—can be detached from its speaker, audience, scene or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: Jesus travels proclaiming God's kingdom with the Twelve and named women healed from affliction—Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others—who provide from their resources.
Follow the Context
- Identify the actors, setting, and initiating speech or action in Luke 8:1–8:3.
- Jesus travels proclaiming God's kingdom with the Twelve and named women healed from affliction—Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others—who provide from their resources.
- Hold this material interpretive limit in view: The women are mobile, named, resourced participants; patronage, marital status, wealth, and whether Luke calls them disciples are debated. Joanna's connection to Herod's steward adds social complexity.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission—from the complete unit or override the unit's explicit boundary: The summary does not reduce women to donors, sexualize Mary Magdalene, erase their witness, endorse patron control, or demand financial gifts for spiritual standing.
What Remains True
Luke 8:3 names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission. Read inside Luke 8:1–8:3, this contribution supports the unit's proportionate truth: Jesus travels proclaiming God's kingdom with the Twelve and named women healed from affliction—Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others—who provide from their resources. Its use remains accountable to affected people and the unit's explicit boundary.
How It Can Shape Life
- Luke 8:3 names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission. Its faithful response is proportionate to that role: Recognize women as mobile, resourced participants in mission and keep money transparent; do not reduce them to donors, erase their witness, or let patronage purchase control.
Teach It Back
Explain Luke 8:3's specific contribution to Luke 8:1–8:3: names Joanna, Susanna, and many women as material providers within the traveling mission. Include the preceding and following movement, one source-controlled uncertainty, one affected person or group, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Luke 8:1–8:3 — Women Travel with and Materially Support the MissionSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The women are mobile, named, resourced participants; patronage, marital status, wealth, and whether Luke calls them disciples are debated. Joanna's connection to Herod's steward adds social complexity.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 8:1–8:3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 8:1–8:3
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 8:1–8:3
Open source ↗