The Seventy Sent Out
1 Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come. 2 Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. 5 Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. 8 Into whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 10 But into whatever city you enter and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. 15 You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. 16 Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
A second, larger sending — in pairs, ahead of him, with instructions that make hospitality part of the message.
Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come.
Only this Gospel records the second mission. The twelve went out in chapter nine; now a much larger group goes, and the difference in scale matters — this is not the inner circle but a wide body of ordinary followers doing the same work.
They go ahead of him, which is the whole point of the journey that began three verses earlier. He is walking toward Jerusalem, and the road is being prepared village by village.
Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.
The instruction is to pray for workers, given to men who are at that moment being sent as the answer. Praying for the harvest is not an alternative to going into it.
Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
No protection is promised in the image, and the arithmetic is not encouraging. What is promised is who sent them.
Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.
The last clause is not rudeness; roadside greetings in that culture were long affairs. The errand has a deadline.
5 Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.
The blessing is treated as a real thing that goes somewhere. Offered to a household that will not have it, it is not wasted — it comes back. Nothing given in this errand is lost.
Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
Two rules of ordinary decency: take what you are given without complaint, and do not shop around for a better billet once you are settled. Paul quotes the second half of that verse as Scripture when arguing that those who preach should be supported 1 Timothy 5:18.
"Eat the things that are set before you" Luke 10:8 is repeated for a city as well as a house, and in mixed territory it carries weight.
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’
The same sentence is to be said to the cities that refuse them Luke 10:11. The announcement does not change with the reception; what changes is what the announcement means for the hearer.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
The comparison with Tyre, Sidon and Sodom is treated in Matthew's account Matthew 11:20–24, where the principle is set out: judgment is proportioned to what was shown.
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
The chain that ran upward through a child in the last chapter Luke 9:48 now runs through seventy anonymous messengers. Nothing about them is impressive, and everything about their errand is.
settled What this mark means