Matthew 24:42

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Matthew 24:42 in Other Translations

KJV
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
ESV
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
NLT
42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
MSG
42 So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up.
CSB
42 Therefore be alert, since you don't know what day your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:42 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 24:42

Watch therefore
Since the time of this desolation is so uncertain, and since it will come upon the Jews unawares, and some wilt escape, whilst others perish; for the words are plainly an inference from what precedes, and clearly relate to things going before, and are not a transition to a new subject: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come;
to avenge himself of the unbelieving Jews, and fulfil what he in person, and by his apostles, had predicted and warned them of: though I will not deny, but that what follows may be much better accommodated and applied to the second coming of Christ, and the last judgment, and the behaviour of men with regard to both, than anything said before; and it may be our Lord's intention, to lead his disciples gradually, and as it were imperceptibly, to the last scene of things on earth, to make way for the parables and description of the future judgment, in the next chapter; still keeping in view, and having reference to, the subject he had been so long upon.

Matthew 24:42 In-Context

40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Matthew 25:13; Luke 12:40
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