Luke 17:5

THE MESSAGE

The apostles came up and said to the Master, "Give us more faith."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

King James Version (1611)
And the Apostles said vnto the Lord, Increase our faith.

King James Version
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

English Standard Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

New American Standard Bible
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

New Century Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Give us more faith!"

Amplified Bible
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith [our ability to confidently trust in God and in His power]."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Legacy Standard Bible
And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Berean Standard Bible
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Contemporary English Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Make our faith stronger!"

Complete Jewish Bible
The emissaries said to the Lord, "Increase our trust."

Darby Translation
And the apostles said to the Lord, Give more faith to us.

Easy-to-Read Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Give us more faith!"

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Apostles saide vnto the Lorde, Increase our faith.

George Lamsa Translation
And the apostles said to our Lord, Increase our faith.

Good News Translation
The apostles said to the Lord, "Make our faith greater."

Lexham English Bible
And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Literal Translation
And the apostles said to the Lord, Give us more faith.

American Standard Version
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

Bible in Basic English
And the twelve said to the Lord, Make our faith greater.

Hebrew Names Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

International Standard Version
Then the apostles said to the Lord, "Give us more faith!"

Etheridge Translation
And the apostles said unto our Lord, Increase to us faith.

Murdock Translation
And the Legates said to our Lord: Increase our faith.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Apostles sayde vnto the Lorde: increase our fayth.

English Revised Version
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

World English Bible
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said,

Weymouth's New Testament
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the apostlis seiden to the Lord, Encrese to vs feith.

Update Bible Version
And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.

New English Translation
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

New King James Version
Matthew 17:19-21; Mark 9:28,29">[xr] And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."

New Living Translation
The apostles said to the Lord, "Show us how to increase our faith."

New Life Bible
The followers said to the Lord, "Give us more faith."

New Revised Standard
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the apostles said unto the Lord - Bestow on us faith!

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith.

Revised Standard Version
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And the apostles sayde vnto the Lorde: increase oure faith.

Young's Literal Translation
And the apostles said to the Lord, `Add to us faith;'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the Apostles sayde vnto ye LORDE: Increace oure faith.

Mace New Testament (1729)
The Apostles having said to the Lord, increase our faith, he answer'd them,

Simplified Cowboy Version
Then the twelve cowboys said, "Show us how to have more faith!"

Contextual Overview

¹He said to his disciples, "Hard trials and temptations are bound to come, but too bad for whoever brings them on! Better to wear a millstone necklace and take a swim in the deep blue sea than give even one of these dear little ones a hard time! ³"Be alert. If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it's personal against you and repeated seven times through the day, and seven times he says, ‘I'm sorry, I won't do it again,' forgive him." ⁵ The apostles came up and said to the Master, "Give us more faith." ⁶ But the Master said, "You don't need more faith. There is no ‘more' or ‘less' in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,' and it would do it. ⁷"Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat'? Wouldn't you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I've finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper'? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what's expected of him? It's the same with you. When you've done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Increase: Mark 9:24, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Philippians 4:13, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, Hebrews 12:2, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 1:23

Reciprocal: Matthew 15:28 - great Acts 3:16 - through 1 Corinthians 12:9 - faith 1 Corinthians 13:2 - and though I have all Colossians 2:12 - the faith 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - the Lord

Cross-References

Genesis 17:15
God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I'll bless her—yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."

Genesis 17:23
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased—every male in his household—and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.

Genesis 32:28
The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."

Numbers 13:16
These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land. Moses gave Hoshea (Salvation) son of Nun a new name—Joshua ( God -Saves).

Nehemiah 9:7
You're the one, God , the God who chose Abram And brought him from Ur of the Chaldees and changed his name to Abraham. You found his heart to be steady and true to you and signed a covenant with him, A covenant to give him the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, The Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites, —to give it to his descendants. And you kept your word because you are righteous.

Romans 4:17
We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!"

Revelation 2:17
"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I'll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I'll also give a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the apostles said unto the Lord,.... Either on account of what was now said by Christ concerning offences, and forgiving injuries; being conscious to themselves of their own weakness to withstand temptations; and fearful lest they should be stumbled and offended with what they should meet with; or that they should give offence to others: and being also sensible of what spirits they were of, and of the difficulties of conquering them, and mastering the resentment of their minds, when injured and provoked; and also the necessity of divine assistance, of having fresh supplies of grace, and of having their graces, and particularly faith, strengthened, and drawn into a lively exercise; or on account of their not being able to cast out a devil from one that was possessed,

Matthew 17:19 when words, to the same purpose, were spoken by Christ, as in the following verse; on occasion of one or other of these, though more likely the former, the apostles addressed Christ in this manner,

increase our faith; both the faith of working miracles, and the grace of believing in him: by which, as they express their sense of the weakness, and imperfection of their faith; and their great desire to have it increased, which might be for their comfort, and his glory; so they acknowledge his divine power, and that he is the author and finisher of faith; and that as the beginning, so the increase of it is from him: wherefore faith is not of a man's self, or the produce of man's freewill and power, but is the gift of God; and even where it is, it is not in man to increase it, or add to it, or to draw it forth into exercise; this also is the operation of God. And if the apostles had need to put up such a petition to Christ, much more reason have other men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Increase our faith - This duty of forgiving offences seemed so difficult to the disciples that they strongly felt the need of an increase of faith. They felt that they were prone themselves to harbor resentments, and that it required an additional increase of true religion to enable them to comply with the requirements of Jesus. We may learn from this:

1. That Jesus has “the power” of increasing the faith of his people. Strength comes from him, and especially strength to believe the gospel. Hence, he is called the “Author and Finisher” of our faith, Hebrews 12:2.
2. The duty of forgiving offences is one of the most difficult duties of the Christian religion. It is so contrary to our natural feelings; it implies such elevation above the petty feelings of malice and revenge, and is so contrary to the received maxims of the world, which teach us to “cherish” rather than to forgive the memory of offences, that it is no wonder our Saviour dwells much on this duty, and so strenuously insists on it in order to our having evidence that our hearts have been changed.

Some have thought that this prayer that he would increase their faith refers to the power of working miracles, and especially to the case recorded in Matthew 17:16-20.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Luke 17:5. Increase our faith. — This work of pardoning every offence of every man, and that continually, seemed so difficult, even to the disciples themselves, that they saw, without an extraordinary degree of faith, they should never be able to keep this command. But some think that this and what follows relate to what Matthew has mentioned. Matthew 17:19-20.