The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew24:32–35

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 24:32–35 — The Lesson of the Fig Tree. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

32

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de mathete tēn parabolēn Apo tēs sykēs hotan ēdē autēs ho klados genētai hapalos kai ekphyē ta phylla ginōskete hoti to theros engys

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeNowG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
μάθετεmathetelearnG3129
√ μανθάνω — to learn (in any way)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
manthanō: to learn, in any way Aorist imperative plural, G3129. Not "consider" but "be taught": the disciples are put in the position of pupils before a tree. Cambridge notes the same demand made negatively elsewhere, when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for reading the face of the sky and not the signs of the times.
τὴνtēnthisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παραβολήνparabolēnlessonG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
parabolē: a similitude, parable G3850, found in 48 verses. Luke alone of the synoptists calls this saying a parable outright (so Poole, comparing Luke 21:29), and the word here covers a comparison drawn from ordinary observation rather than a narrative story.
ἈπὸApofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
συκῆςsykēsfig treeG4808
√ συκῆ — a fig-treeNounGenitive Feminine Singular
sykē: a fig-tree G4808, 15 verses. Ellicott and Barnes both argue from place and season that a living example was at hand: the Mount of Olives grew figs as well as olives, and the season was early spring. Gill adds that the fig was a tree whose budding "fell under the observation of everyone," which is why it can serve as a public sign.
ὅτανhotanAs soon asG3752
√ ὅταν — whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertainty)Conjunction
ἤδηēdē. . .G2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
Adverb, already. Untranslated in BSB.
αὐτῆςautēsitsG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κλάδοςkladosbranchesG2798
√ κλάδος — a twig or bough (as if broken off)NounNominative Masculine Singular
γένηταιgenētaibecomeG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
ἁπαλὸςhapalostenderG527
√ ἀπαλός — softAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
hapalos: soft G527. The adjective is predicate to the aorist subjunctive γένηται: the branch comes to be soft. Geneva reads the softening as evidence of sap risen from the root, an image of life returning from a hidden source to a visible surface, which is exactly how a sign works in this discourse.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκφύῃekphyēsproutG1631
√ ἐκφύω — to sprout upVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ekphyō: to sprout up G1631, in only 2 verses. A rare verb, shared with Mark 13:28 and nowhere else in the New Testament, which makes the synoptic parallel a genuinely verbal link rather than a thematic one. The present subjunctive holds the action open while the aorist beside it is punctiliar.
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
φύλλαphyllaleavesG5444
√ φύλλον — a sprout, iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
γινώσκετεginōsketeyou knowG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ginōskō: to know Present indicative active, G1097, 205 verses. Cambridge prefers "recognise" here and in v. 33, and observes that Matthew 24:36 uses a different Greek word rightly rendered "knoweth." The distinction matters to the argument of the unit: what can be recognised from signs is not the same as what is known of the day and hour.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
θέροςtherossummerG2330
√ θέρος — properly, heat, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
theros: heat, summer G2330, in only 3 verses. Cambridge argues the sense may be "harvest time" rather than summer, since the sprouting fig coincides with the barley harvest, and the first sheaf was offered the day after the Passover; he notes that the siege of Jerusalem itself fell at harvest. Gill instead reads the two-season Hebrew year, in which spring already counts as summer come.
ἐγγὺςengys[is] nearG1451
√ ἐγγύς — akin to the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))Adverb
engys: near G1451, 30 verses. The predicate of the whole comparison, and the word v. 33 will repeat of a person rather than a season.
33

So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

houtōs kai hotan idēte panta tauta hymeis ginōskete hoti estin engys epi thyrais

Word by word13 · parsed
οὕτωςhoutōsSoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
houtōs: in this way G3779. The hinge that turns the observation into an argument: as with the tree, so with you.
καὶkaialsoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτανhotanwhenG3752
√ ὅταν — whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertainty)Conjunction
ἴδητεidēteyou seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Aorist subjunctive active, G3708. The lexicon's extended sense, to attend to, is what the clause requires: not a glance but the reading of a set of events. Barnes ties the seeing concretely to the signs around Jerusalem.
πάνταpantaallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
houtos: this "All these things," πάντα ταῦτα, the same phrase v. 34 will repeat. Barnes and Gill both restrict it to the signs of the temple's destruction already listed; Pulpit allows a secondary reach to the consummation, on the ground that Christ draws no definite line between the two.
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
sy: thou Emphatic and strictly unnecessary. Ellicott hears in it the four apostles standing as representatives of the whole body of believers who would be alive first at the fall of Jerusalem and afterwards at the end, and observes soberly that of the four, only John is known to have survived the city.
γινώσκετεginōsketewill knowG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ginōskō: to know Present indicative, not future. See the divergence above.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἐστινestinHe isG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: I exist, used when emphatic Third person singular with no stated subject. Everything the verse means about the second coming rides on a pronoun the Greek never writes, which is the single most important honest observation to be made here.
ἐγγύςengysnearG1451
√ ἐγγύς — akin to the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))Adverb
engys: near G1451, 30 verses. The same adverb as v. 32, now predicated of a person or a kingdom rather than a season; the comparison works only because the word does not change.
ἐπὶepiright atG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
θύραιςthyrais[the] doorG2374
√ θύρα — a portal or entrance (the opening or the closure, literally or figuratively)NounDative Feminine Plural
thyra: a portal or entrance G2374, dative plural. Gill reads "within the gates" as already arrived; Pulpit reads "on the very threshold" as about to enter. Both cite James 5:9, where the Judge stands before the door.
34

Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

amēn legō hymin hoti hautē hē genea ou mē parelthē heōs an panta tauta genētai

Word by word15 · parsed
ἀμὴνamēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
amēn: properly, firm A Hebrew word left standing in the Greek, marked as such in the interlinear parse. It functions as a self-attestation: the speaker makes himself the guarantee of the sentence that follows, a form of speech the prophets reserved for "thus says the LORD."
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
legō: to lay forth, to say Present indicative, first person singular. The subject is the speaker himself, unmediated: not "the word of the Lord came," but "I say."
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὕτηhautēthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Feminine Singular
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
γενεὰgeneagenerationG1074
√ γενεά — a generationNounNominative Feminine Singular
genea: a generation G1074, 37 verses. The word on which every reading of the chapter turns. Pulpit surveys the options and grants that the sense "race" is classical, but judges it unlikely that Christ would indefinitely postpone a matter of infinite importance to his hearers; he settles on the contemporaries of the speaker, some thirty or forty years. Barnes reckons a generation at thirty or forty years and notes that Jerusalem fell about forty years after these words. Gill names rabbis then living who saw the city destroyed.
οὐou{will} notG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ou: the absolute negative First half of the emphatic οὐ μὴ.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
Second negative particle; BSB leaves it unrendered.
παρέλθῃparelthēpass awayG3928
√ παρέρχομαι — to come near or aside, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
parerchomai: to come near or aside, to pass by Aorist subjunctive active, G3928, 25 verses. The pivot verb of the unit: it is used of this generation here, of heaven and earth in v. 35, and of Christ's words in v. 35, so that the same verb is denied of the first and the third and affirmed of the second. The three clauses are one argument held together by one word.
ἕωςheōsuntilG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Conjunction
heōs: until Conjunction of continuance, with ἄν and the subjunctive: a terminus that is certain in kind but unspecified in date.
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
πάνταpantaallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
pas: all, every, the whole Barnes, Gill and Poole all read "all these things" as the signs of the city's fall, with Barnes adding that the words have "a fullness of meaning" that would also cover the judgment.
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
γένηταιgenētaihave happenedG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
ginomai: to cause to be, to become Aorist subjunctive middle, G1096, the same form as v. 32's γένηται of the branch. Ellicott's point stands on the parse: coming to pass need not mean exhausted, any more than a branch becoming tender means the summer is over.
35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ho ouranos kai hē gē pareleusetai de mou hoi logoi ou mē parelthōsin

Word by word13 · parsed
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οὐρανὸςouranosHeavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounNominative Masculine Singular
ouranos: the sky G3772, 255 verses. Singular, and paired with γῆ: the standing merism for everything made. Poole notes that his contemporaries regarded heaven and earth as "the most stable and abiding things," which is what makes the comparison work at all.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
γῆgēearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounNominative Feminine Singular
gē: soil, earth G1093. The other half of the merism.
παρελεύσεταιpareleusetaiwill pass awayG3928
√ παρέρχομαι — to come near or aside, iVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
parerchomai: to pass by, pass away Future indicative middle, G3928. Stated, not threatened: the cosmos passing is simply assumed as the lesser certainty against which the greater is measured.
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
λόγοιlogoiwordsG3056
√ λόγος — something said (including the thought)NounNominative Masculine Plural
logos: something said, including the thought G3056, nominative plural. The subject of the strongest negation in the unit. The OT parallels named by Ellicott (Psalm 102:26, Isaiah 40:8) predicate exactly this of the word of the LORD, and 1 Peter 1:24 to 25 applies the Isaiah passage to the Gospel preached; here the speaker predicates it of his own sayings, in the first person, without argument.
οὐou{will} neverG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
First half of the emphatic negative.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
Second negative particle, unrendered in BSB.
παρέλθωσινparelthōsinpass awayG3928
√ παρέρχομαι — to come near or aside, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
parerchomai: to pass by, pass away Aorist subjunctive active with οὐ μή, G3928. The third and last use of the verb across vv. 34 and 35. Cambridge and Pulpit both record that this whole verse was originally absent from the Sinaitic manuscript, so the strongest claim in the unit is also the one with the thinnest early attestation in that single witness, though Pulpit judges it most probably genuine on the strength of Mark and Luke.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The tree that is made a teacher — 24:32

The unit opens with an imperative of apprenticeship: μάθετε (G3129), be taught. Cambridge and Pulpit both insist on the article, "learn from the fig-tree its parable," and Pulpit adds the honest qualification that the tree might teach other lessons than the one Christ enforces. Ellicott and Barnes argue independently from circumstance that a real tree stood there: the Mount of Olives bore figs as well as olives, and the season was early spring. Barnes describes the mechanism, the juices returning from the roots into the branches until the buds swell and burst; Geneva describes the same thing as the sap which is the life of the tree coming up from the roots into the bark. Gill notes why the fig serves: its budding "fell under the observation of everyone." Cambridge draws the inference the whole unit rests on: "The sequence of historical events is as certain as the sequence of natural events," and the first is at least partly within the range of the same human intelligence that reads the promise of summer. ⚙ Worth holding onto, against every later abuse of this chapter: the sign is not esoteric. It is the kind of thing a farmer knows.

ii. So also ye: a subject the Greek never writes — 24:33

Ellicott and Pulpit both hear the redundant ὑμεῖς as emphatic, and Ellicott extends it: the four apostles stand for all believers who would be alive first at the fall of Jerusalem and afterwards at the end, and of the four only John is known to have outlived the city. Then the verse goes quiet exactly where readers most want it loud. ἐστιν has no stated subject. Ellicott supplies "He" and appeals to James 5:9; Pulpit supplies the Son of Man of v. 30 and says plainly that the subject is not expressed; Cambridge supplies "the harvest time of God"; Barnes supplies the destruction of the city, glossing from Luke "your redemption draweth nigh"; Gill notes the Ethiopic reads "he is near" and then offers four candidates for what the summer is, including relief from Jewish persecution and the general spread of the Gospel. ⚙ The English word "He" in every modern translation of this clause is an interpretive decision, well grounded and probably right, and the reader deserves to know it is a decision. Gill's pressure on the preposition is also worth weighing: "in the gates" is more than "at the gates."

iii. This generation: the hardest sentence, and the sources at war — 24:34

Here the commentators do not agree, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Ellicott holds that the natural sense of γενεὰ (G1074) is those living at a given period, and that for the sense "race" or "people" there is "not the shadow of authority," adding that the sense does not even remove the difficulty it was invented to solve. Henry holds precisely that rejected sense: Judah shall never cease to exist as a distinct people so long as the world endures. Geneva glosses it "the men of this age." Gill names rabbis living when Christ spoke who saw the city fall. Poole surveys the same options and says "doubtless our Saviour mean's the set of men that were at that time in the world." Pulpit grants that Alford's "race" reading is classically possible, rejects it as unlikely on pastoral grounds, and then, in a secondary sense, allows "the generation of them that seek the Lord" of Psalm 24:6, quoting Chrysostom that over this generation nothing shall prevail. Benson goes furthest the other way, quoting Bishop Newton in astonishment that anyone could refer part of the discourse to the end of the world. ⚙ Two grammatical facts belong to the reader before any harmonising begins. First, οὐ μή with the aorist subjunctive is the strongest denial Greek makes. Second, Ellicott's own reading of γένηται is the most under-claiming move in all of this material: the aorist subjunctive means come to pass, and "do not necessarily imply more than the commencement of a process, the first unrolling of the scroll of the coming ages."

iv. One verb, three clauses, and a first-person claim — 24:34-24:35

The argument closes on a single lexeme used three times. παρέρχομαι (G3928, in 25 verses) is denied of this generation, affirmed of heaven and earth, and denied with maximum force of Christ's words. Benson's Newton reads it as a comparison of relative ease: heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than these words fail. Poole reads it the same way, granting a genuine change of heavens and earth from 2 Peter 3 while making the point one of stability. Barnes compresses it: "You may sooner expect to see the heaven and earth pass away and return to nothing, than my words to fail." Gill distinguishes substance from qualities, and cites Jeremiah 31:36. Geneva sees the judgment itself beginning here. Then Ellicott names the thing directly: the parallelism with Psalm 102:26 and Isaiah 40:8 gives the saying its full significance, and "The Son of Man claims for His own words the eternity which belongs to the words of Jehovah." Against all of this, Cambridge and Pulpit both record that v. 35 was originally omitted in the Sinaitic manuscript and inserted by a later hand; Pulpit judges it most probably genuine because it stands in both Mark and Luke. ⚙ That textual note deserves to sit beside the claim, not underneath it.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text and the named voices above. The unit is built as a chain of three certainties of descending visibility and ascending weight. A branch softening is the most visible and least important. The fall of a city is less visible in advance and more important, yet still readable by the same faculty, which is Cambridge's point. The permanence of these sayings is wholly invisible and most important of all, and it is asserted rather than demonstrated, sworn on a Hebrew word (ἀμὴν) that the evangelist would not translate. Notice what the speaker does not do: he does not say "the word of the LORD endures forever," which Isaiah 40:8 already said and which no one would dispute. He says "my words," in the first person, with no supporting argument, to four men on a hillside, about predictions not yet tested. Ellicott is right that this is a claim to Jehovah's own prerogative, and it is either intolerable or it is true. On the hard sentence of v. 34, the tool declines to choose between Ellicott and Henry, and offers instead the two things the grammar actually secures: the denial in v. 34 is absolute in form, and Ellicott's reading of γένηται as the commencement of a process, not its exhaustion, is a real feature of the aorist subjunctive and not a rescue invented after the fact. That leaves a genuine gap, and a stated gap is better than an invented fact. What the unit does secure, without any strain, is the posture it commands: watch the branch, expect the summer, and stake nothing on a date.

Every certainty in this unit is measured against something less certain, until the last one, which is measured against nothing at all. (A synthesis line, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The rarest verb in the unit, and the synoptic triple verbal / quotation: confirmed

The fig tree saying stands in all three synoptists, and the link is not merely thematic. ἐκφύω (G1631, to sprout up) occurs in only two verses of the New Testament, here and at Mark 13:28, and θέρος (G2330, summer) in only three, here, Mark 13:28 and Luke 21:30. Poole records the parallels and notes Luke's distinctive wording, "the fig tree, and all the trees," and that Luke alone calls it a parable outright. Cambridge heads the section with the same three references. ⚙ The rare shared vocabulary is what allows a verbal tier here: it is a Greek to Greek link within one tradition, not a quotation of the Old Testament.

Mark 13:28 · Luke 21:30

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1631 ἐκφύω (in 2 vv, the rarest word in this unit, found only here and Mark 13:28), G2330 θέρος (in 3 vv) and G3850 παραβολή (in 48 vv). Greek to Greek within the synoptic tradition, so shared Strong's numbers are a real verbal basis.

The tree that was cursed and the tree that is tender structural / thematic: confirmed

Three days earlier on the same road, a fig tree with leaves and no fruit was withered (Matthew 21:19, and Mark 11:13, which notes it was not the season for figs and that Jesus saw only leaves). The Verifier finds both passages sharing συκῆ (G4808) and φύλλον (G5444). Pulpit makes the connection explicitly, observing that the fruit of the fig appears before the leaves "as we learned in the story of the withered fig tree," which "the Lord may have had in mind when he gave this illustration." Ellicott also cross-references Matthew 21:19 when placing the scene. ⚙ The shared words are real, but no quotation is in view and the theological weight is inferred, so this stays structural.

Matthew 21:19 · Mark 11:13

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4808 συκῆ (in 15 vv) and G5444 φύλλον (in 5 vv). A real verbal overlap inside a shared motif of fig tree and leaves, but no citation is claimed by either text, so the tier is structural rather than verbal.

"This generation" in the three accounts structural / thematic: confirmed

Mark 13:30 and Luke 21:32 carry the same saying with the same key words: γενεά, παρέρχομαι, and in Mark the same ἀμήν. Poole notes that Mark and Luke have "the very same" material for this whole block. ⚙ The overlap is genuine but none of the shared lexemes is rare (γενεά in 37 verses, παρέρχομαι in 25, ἀμήν in 104), so this thread is deliberately under-claimed as structural. The point of recording it is that the disputed sentence is not a Matthean peculiarity that could be explained away as an editorial accident; it stands in all three.

Mark 13:30 · Luke 21:32

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1074 γενεά (in 37 vv), G3928 παρέρχομαι (in 25 vv), G281 ἀμήν (in 104 vv) at Mark 13:30, and G1074 γενεά, G2193 ἕως (in 138 vv), G3928 παρέρχομαι at Luke 21:32. None of these is rare enough on its own to carry a quotation claim, so the verbal tier is withheld even though the saying is plainly the same.

"The grass withers, but the word of our God stands forever" structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott names the Old Testament background of v. 35 directly: "The parallelism of the words with those of Psalm 102:26, Isaiah 40:8, gives them their full significance," and he points on to 1 Peter 1:24 to 25, where Isaiah's contrast between perishing flesh and the enduring word is applied to the Gospel preached. Pulpit cites the same Petrine passage. Isaiah 51:6 sets the identical pair, heavens vanishing and earth wearing out, against a salvation that will not be abolished. ⚙ In each case the Old Testament predicates permanence of the word of the LORD; the Matthew text predicates it of "my words." That is the whole force of the echo, and it is a shift of speaker, not a change of formula.

Isaiah 40:8 · Isaiah 51:6 · Psalm 102:25-27 · 1 Peter 1:24-25

basis: Cross-Testament: the Matthew text is Greek and Isaiah and Psalm 102 are Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number is possible and the Verifier returns no verbal basis for the pair. The recorded basis is Ellicott's named parallelism with Psalm 102:26 and Isaiah 40:8 plus his and Pulpit's citation of 1 Peter 1:24-25. Matthew 24:35 does not quote these texts, it reuses their pattern, so the tier is structural and never verbal.

Heaven and earth passing, and the letter that will not structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew has already used this figure once, at Matthew 5:18, with the same amen formula, the same ἕως, and the same παρέρχομαι: until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota of the Law shall pass. Mark 13:31 repeats the present verse with παρέρχομαι and οὐρανός. ⚙ The two Matthean sayings form a matched pair, the Law in chapter 5 and Christ's own sayings in chapter 24 each given the permanence that the visible cosmos lacks. This is a structural link. None of the shared lexemes is rare, and neither verse quotes the other.

Matthew 5:18 · Mark 13:31

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2193 ἕως (in 138 vv), G3928 παρέρχομαι (in 25 vv) and G281 ἀμήν (in 104 vv) at Matthew 5:18; G3928 παρέρχομαι, G3772 οὐρανός (in 255 vv) at Mark 13:31. All are common words, so the tier is structural: a shared formula of heaven and earth passing set against something that does not, not a quotation.

Gill's appeal to the fixed ordinances of Jeremiah flagged: verify source

Closing his note on v. 35, Gill sends the reader to Jeremiah 31:36, where the fixed ordinances of the heavens are made the measure of Israel's endurance as a nation before the LORD. ⚙ The logic is attractive and matches Poole's comparative reading, but the reader should know what kind of link this is. The Verifier returns no basis for the pair, the connection is cross-Testament and therefore cannot rest on a shared lexeme, and it is Gill's own inference rather than a citation in the Matthew text. Flagged so it can be tested rather than inherited.

Jeremiah 31:36

basis: No Verifier basis exists for this pair: it is Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, and Matthew 24:35 makes no citation of Jeremiah. The only provenance is Gill's closing cross-reference in his note on this verse. Recorded as flagged so the reader verifies it rather than trusting the badge.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The words that outlast the sky ancient/widely-held

⚙ The redemptive-historical claim of this unit is concentrated in one genitive. Psalm 102 addresses the LORD, who founded the earth and will fold the heavens like a garment while he himself remains the same; Isaiah 40:8 sets the withering of all flesh against the word of our God that stands forever. In v. 35 the identical contrast is drawn, and the enduring term is "my words." Ellicott states it without hedging: "The Son of Man claims for His own words the eternity which belongs to the words of Jehovah," and points to 1 Peter 1:24 to 25, where the apostle applies Isaiah's enduring word to the Gospel that was preached. Barnes puts the same thing as a challenge to expectation: you may sooner expect to see heaven and earth return to nothing than my words fail. Poole and Benson both read it as a comparison of relative certainty, and Benson's Bishop Newton presses the emphasis harder still. Gill extends the permanence to "anything, and everything spoken by Christ." ⚙ This is the apostolic reading and not a novelty: it is recorded here by Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, Benson and Gill alike, and Hebrews 1:10 to 12 applies Psalm 102 itself to the Son.

Psalm 102:25-27 · Isaiah 40:8 · 1 Peter 1:24-25 · Hebrews 1:10-12

He is near, at the doors ancient/widely-held

⚙ The subject of ἐστιν in v. 33 is unwritten, and the tradition fills it christologically. Ellicott: "Better, that He is near, in accordance with James 5:9." Pulpit: the subject must be the Son of Man of v. 30, "so that the rendering ought to be, he is near," and "At the doors; as James 5:9, on the very threshold, and therefore about to enter." Gill notes that the Ethiopic version reads "he is near" and that the Vulgate's "in the gates" implies one already inside. Barnes and Cambridge instead supply the event, the destruction or the harvest time of God. ⚙ The honest position is that the Greek permits both and the wider discourse favours the person: v. 30 has just spoken of the Son of Man coming, and James 5:9 uses the same threshold image of the Judge standing before the door. The figure of Christ at the door recurs in Revelation 3:20, there in invitation rather than judgment, and the two are the same nearness differently received. This reading is widely held among the sources here, though not unanimous, which is itself worth recording.

Matthew 24:30 · James 5:9 · Revelation 3:20

The withered tree and the tender branch novel

⚙ Pulpit ends his note on v. 32 with a question rather than a claim: the fruit of the fig appears before the leaves, as in the story of the withered fig tree at Matthew 21:19, which the Lord may have had in mind here, and "Did he intend to symbolize the revival of the life of the withered Jewish race in the time of the end?" Geneva moves in a related direction, that God's order in nature testifies to an order in his eternal judgments which the godly note and await. Henry reads v. 34 as a promise that Judah will not cease to be a distinct people, though Ellicott denies that sense of the word outright. ⚙ Held together, these make a figural reading in which the tree cursed for leaves without fruit and the tree whose branch grows tender again are one tree at two moments. This tool records it as a genuine possibility raised by a named source and refuses to assert it: Pulpit himself only asks, the lexical basis is a shared motif and not a quotation, and Ellicott's objection to Henry's premise stands unanswered. Marked novel accordingly.

Matthew 21:19 · Mark 11:13 · Romans 11:15-24

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB for the English, Berean interlinear with Strong's numbers for the Greek, four verses, all Greek, no text-only verses. Two textual matters belong to the reader. First, Cambridge states that v. 35 "was originally omitted in the Sinaitic MS., but is inserted by a later hand"; Pulpit records the same omission by Codex Sinaiticus and judges the verse most probably genuine because it stands in both Mark and Luke. The strongest claim in the unit therefore carries a real, if narrow, textual question, and it is recorded rather than smoothed over. Second, Pulpit notes that copyists and editors vary at v. 32 between ἐκφυῇ (aorist passive subjunctive) and ἐκφύῃ (active), with the Vulgate reading the passive, et folia nata; the interlinear used here has the active.

Sources: ten commentators are present in the brief. Nine are quoted. JFB is not, because its entry for all four verses is only a chapter header referring the reader to its exposition of Mark 13, which contains no comment on this text. Two sources comment in blocks rather than per verse, so their anchored excerpts sit where the block begins: Benson treats 24:32 to 35 under v. 32, and Poole's substantive note covers vv. 32 to 35 and is filed at v. 35 (his entries at vv. 32, 33 and 34 read only "See Poole on Matthew 24:35"). Henry's note is a single block on vv. 29 to 41 repeated at each verse. Gill's notes on vv. 33 and 35 each offer several readings side by side without choosing; the editorial notes on those voices say so, because quoting one alternative as his settled view would misrepresent him.

What is uncertain. The meaning of γενεὰ in v. 34 is disputed among the sources printed here, not merely among moderns: Ellicott says the sense "race" has "not the shadow of authority," while Henry, Alford (as reported by Pulpit) and others take exactly that sense, and Pulpit records a threefold reading as well as Lange's and Chrysostom's variants. This tool does not resolve it and says so in the sola reading. The subject of ἐστιν in v. 33 is not expressed in the Greek; every English "He is near" is an interpretive supply, well supported but not a rendering. Cambridge's proposal that θέρος in v. 32 means harvest time rather than summer is attributed by him to Meyer and is presented here as his argument, not as an established fact.

Thread discipline. Two threads in this unit are cross-Testament and therefore cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers: the Isaiah and Psalm 102 echo behind v. 35 is tiered structural on Ellicott's named parallelism, and Gill's appeal to Jeremiah 31:36 is flagged because it is his inference with no Verifier basis. Only the synoptic fig tree thread is tiered verbal, on the strength of G1631 ἐκφύω appearing in just two verses of the New Testament. The Matthew 21:19 and Mark 11:13 link shares real lexemes but claims no quotation and is deliberately kept structural. Romans 11 is cited in the third christ entry as the canonical location of the grafted-branch argument that the figural reading would need; the brief supplies no verbal basis for it, and that entry is marked novel for exactly this reason.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)