Luke 10:2

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) The harvest truly is great.—See Note on Matthew 9:37. The verses that follow contain, as might have been expected from the analogous circumstances, much in common with those spoken on the mission of the Twelve. We have here, as in the sermons on the Mount and on the Plain, an example of our Lord’s repeating the expression of the same thoughts in nearly the same language.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-16 Christ sent the seventy disciples, two and two, that they might strengthen and encourage one another. The ministry of the gospel calls men to receive Christ as a Prince and a Saviour; and he will surely come in the power of his Spirit to all places whither he sends his faithful servants. But the doom of those who receive the grace of God in vain, will be very fearful Those who despise the faithful ministers of Christ, who think meanly of them, and look scornfully upon them, will be reckoned as despisers of God and Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 9:36-37.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. The harvest, &c.—(See on [1623]Mt 9:37).

pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest—(See on [1624]Mt 9:38).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 9:37" and See Poole on "Matthew 9:38", where these words are put immediately before the sending out of the twelve. Both the twelve and the seventy, all that Christ ever sent out, were to be labourers in the Lord’s harvest.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore said he unto them,.... That is, the "Lord Jesus", as the Ethiopic version expresses it; he said to the seventy disciples, what he had before said to the twelve apostles in Matthew 9:37 where are the same words as here:

the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest; for though there was such a number of disciples called to the ministerial work, and sent out, there was still need of more; so great was the harvest of souls, or number of hearers, that the labourers were yet but few; and therefore the Lord of the harvest and whose all souls are, was to be prayed unto to send forth more laborious preachers; See Gill on Matthew 9:37. See Gill on Matthew 9:38.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 10:2. Comp. Matthew 9:37 f. First of all, Christ makes them apprehend the greatness of their task, and (Luke 10:3) their risk, and then gives them (Luke 10:4 ff.) rules of conduct.[128]

ὀλίγοι] notwithstanding your numbers, ye are still far from sufficient[129] ΠΡῸς ΤῸ ΠΛῆΘΟς ΤῶΝ ΜΕΛΛΌΝΤΩΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΕΙΝ (Euthymius Zigabenus)!

ἘΚΒΆΛῌ] In this is contained the importance, the urgency of the mission: should drive forth (comp. on Mark 1:12; 1Ma 12:27).

[128] But the prohibition against going to the heathens and the Samaritans, Matthew 5:5, He does not give to the Seventy, and that for the simple reason that they had precisely to make the journey only as it was definitely marked out to them in ver. 1 (through Galilee). For this that prohibition would not have been at all appropriate.

[129] According to Weiss, Jesus, in respect of ὀλίγοι, must have thought originally of Himself, while Luke thought of the Twelve. The former view contradicts the words of the passage, the latter the context. But that the discourse was originally addressed to the Twelve does not follow from Luke 22:35, for the passage there alluded to is to be sought in Luke 9:3 (although with certain coincidences from Luke 10:4).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 10:2-12. The instructions.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. The harvest truly is great] Compare Matthew 9:37; John 4:35.

sendforth] The word literally means ‘drive forth,’ and though it has lost its full force implies urgency and haste. See similar uses of the word in John 10:4, Matthew 9:38, Mark 1:12.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. This and many of the sayings reported on this occasion had been said apparently before, when the twelve had been sent out on a similar mission. It seems almost certain that, on several occasions, the Lord repeated the same expressions containing great truths, with scarcely any variation in language. The harvest simile was evidently a favourite one of the Master. "The field is the world" he told them in the parable of the sower. It is reproduced by St. John (Revelation 14:14-19). Luke 10:2

Vincent's Word Studies

The harvest (θερισμὸς)

From θέρος, summer (compare θέρομαι, to become warm). Harvest, that which is gathered in summer. Wyc., much ripe corn is, but few workmen.

Pray

See on Luke 8:38.

Send forth (ἐκβάλῃ)

Lit., drive or thrust forth, implying the urgency of the mission. See on Mark 1:12.