Luke 6 · a question people ask

Jesus says "Blessed are you who are poor" (6:20) and "woe to you who are rich!" (6:24). Whom was he speaking to?

In the text

Here is what Luke says, in order. "He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases" (6:17). "He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for God’s Kingdom is yours." (6:20). The woes say you too: "But woe to you who are rich!" (6:24). After them Jesus says, "But I tell you who hear" (6:27), and when he ends, Luke says, "After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum" (7:1). Luke names his disciples and the people. He doesn't say whether any who were rich were there, or whom Jesus meant by "you who are rich", and these notes don't say either, or apply the words to anyone's money today. Matthew tells of sayings like these in his own setting, and Favor's Matthew 5 asks its own question about whom Jesus taught there; Luke's words are not used to answer it.

The verses

“He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases,”
Luke 6:17 · World English Bible
“He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for God’s Kingdom is yours.”
Luke 6:20 · World English Bible
““But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.”
Luke 6:24 · World English Bible
““But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,”
Luke 6:27 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Luke 6

Luke 6: On a level place

Jesus answers four blessings with four woes, in the same order: poor and rich, hungry and full, weeping and laughing, hated and spoken well of (6:20-26). And the "credit" Jesus asks about three times (6:32-34) is the Greek word the WEB gives as "favor" in the angel's word to Mary (1:30).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions