Matthew 25:13

13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Matthew 25:13 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 25:13

Watch therefore
In ordinances, in prayer, public and private, in hearing the word, at the Lord's supper, and in every religious exercise; over the heart, the thoughts and affections of it; over words, actions, life, and conversation; and against all sin and unbelief, Satan's temptations, the world, and its charms and snares, false teachers, and their doctrines, and for the bridegroom's coming. This is the use and application of the whole parable, and shows the general design of it; the reason to enforce watchfulness follows:

for ye know neither the day nor the hour;
of death, or of judgment, or of the coming of the son of man, of one or the other; for it is added,

wherein the son of man cometh:
that he will come is certain, and that quickly; the time is fixed, but when it will be is unknown; and therefore it becomes us to be our watch and guard. This last clause is not in the Vulgate Latin, nor in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and was wanting in three of Beza's copies, but is in most Greek copies, and in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, and seems to be necessary.

Matthew 25:13 In-Context

11 Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
12 But he replied, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.'
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
14 "For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property;
15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.