Matthew 24:21

Matthew 24:21 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
• New International Version (NIV)For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Context of Matthew 24:21

19Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! 20Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him.

Matthew 24:21 word by word

ἔσται γὰρ τότε θλῖψις μεγάλη οἵα οὐ γέγονεν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κόσμου ἕως τοῦ νῦν οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ γένηται.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Forγάρgar · forG1063
• thenτότεtote · thenG5119
• shall beεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• greatμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
• tribulationθλῖψιςthlipsis · pressureG2347
• such asοἷοςoios · such asG3634
• wasγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• notοὐou · noG3756
• sinceἀπόapo · away fromG575
• the beginningἀρχήarchē · beginningG746
• of the worldκόσμοςkosmos · worldG2889
• toἕωςheōs · untilG2193
• this timeνῦνnun · nowG3568
• noοὐδέoude · norG3761
• everμήmē · notG3361

Cross-references for Matthew 24:21

• Psalms 69:22May their dining table become a trap before them! May it be a snare for that group of friends!
• Isaiah 65:12I predestine you to die by the sword, all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, because I called to you, and you did not respond, I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before me; you chose to do what displeases me.”
• Isaiah 66:15For look, the Lord comes with fire, his chariots come like a windstorm, to reveal his raging anger, his battle cry, and his flaming arrows.
• Daniel 9:26Now after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. As for the city and the sanctuary, the people of the coming prince will destroy them. But his end will come speedily like a flood. Until the end of the war that has been decreed there will be destruction.
• Daniel 12:1“At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape.
• Joel 1:2Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors?
• Joel 2:2It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!
• Zechariah 11:8Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.
• Zechariah 14:2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away.
• Malachi 4:1(3:19) “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord who rules over all. “It will not leave even a root or branch.
• Mark 13:9“You must watch out for yourselves. You will be handed over to councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them.
• Luke 19:43For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.
• Luke 21:24They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away as captives among all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:16because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, but wrath has come upon them completely.
• Hebrews 10:26For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us,

Commentaries on Matthew 24:21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21For then shall be great tribulation - No history can furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miseries of the Jews: - rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within: fire and sword, and all the horrors of war, without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost impossible for any humane person to read the relation of them in Josephus without weeping also. St. Luke, Luke 21:22, calls these the days of vengeance, that all…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21There shall be great tribulation - The word “tribulation” means calamity or “suffering.” Luke Luke 21:24 has specified in what this tribulation would consist: “They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.” That is, until the time allotted for the Gentiles “to do it” shall be fully accomplished, or as long as…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-28Verses 4-28 The disciples had asked concerning the times, When these things should be? Christ gave them no answer to that; but they had also asked, What shall be the sign? This question he answers fully. The prophecy first respects events near at hand, the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the Jewish church and state, the calling of the Gentiles, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the world; but it also looks to the general judgment; and toward…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21great tribulation, unmatched: Similar language appears in Nehemiah 9:37; Jeremiah 11:16; Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:1–17. The Jewish historian Josephus documented the extreme violence of the times (see War 5.10.2–3).Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 24:21

• Faith
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Jesus Continued
• Righteous

In the dictionaries

• Deceive
• Desolation
• Elect
• Flight
• Goodman
• Learn
• Lo
• Matthew, Gospel according to
• Olves, Mount of
• Tribulation

Commentaries on Matthew 24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings