The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew24:36–51

Readiness at Any Hour

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Matthew 24:36–51 — Readiness at Any Hour. 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.

36

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de oudeis oiden Peri ekeinēs tēs hēmeras kai hōras oude hoi angeloi tōn ouranōn oude ho Huios ei mē monos ho Patēr

Word by word22 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οὐδεὶςoudeisNo oneG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
οἶδενoidenknowsG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἴδω: to see, hence to know (perfect) The perfect tense states a standing condition of not-knowing, which is why the verse resists the softening that Ellicott names and rejects: that the Son merely did not communicate a knowledge he held. Ellicott calls that reading violence done to the plain meaning; Pulpit, holding the same words, resolves them instead by the two natures, so that the Son willed in his manhood not to know what in his Godhead he knew. The parse settles the grammar and leaves the christology contested between the ✦ voices.
ΠερὶPeriaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
ἐκείνηςekeinēsthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounGenitive Feminine Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἡμέραςhēmerasdayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
καὶkai[or]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὥραςhōrashourG5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ὥρα: an hour, a season Paired with ἡμέρα, the noun narrows the unknown to a point; Benson reports Grotius and Newton taking it instead as a span, so that the sentence is not redundant. Either way the pairing is what verses 42, 44 and 50 will pick up again: day and hour together, both hidden.
οὐδὲoudenot evenG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iAdverb
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἄγγελοιangeloiangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounNominative Masculine Plural
ἄγγελος: messenger The genitive τῶν οὐρανῶν marks them as the heavens' own household staff, and Gill notes the point: these are the beings who stand in the presence and are sent on the errands, and still this errand's date is withheld from them. Poole presses the same: the knowledge is a piece the Father has reserved in his own power, even from those who continually behold his face.
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnin heavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐδὲoudenorG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱόςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
υἱός: son The article plus the absolute “the Son,” without “of Man,” is the strongest self-designation in the unit, and it is exactly here that ignorance is predicated. Pulpit records the Arian use of the verse and answers it from the Athanasian Creed: equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, inferior as touching his manhood. Ellicott answers it instead from Philippians 2:7, the eternal Word emptying himself of the infinity proper to the divine attributes.
εἰeibutG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
μόνοςmonosonlyG3441
√ μόνος — remaining, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
μόνος: alone, only The adjective, not an adverb: alone-ness is said of the Father. Geneva draws the pastoral inference, that the date is hidden from us all for our sake, so that we may be the more watchful.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠατὴρPatērFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounNominative Masculine Singular
πατήρ: father Pulpit notes that the best manuscripts read “the Father,” not “my Father,” and sets the verse beside Acts 1:7, where the times and seasons are what the Father has put in his own power. The reserve is not a defect in the Son's knowledge so much as a property of the Father's keeping.
37

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hōsper hai hēmerai tou Nōe houtōs estai hē parousia tou Huiou tou anthrōpou

Word by word14 · parsed
γὰρgarG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ὥσπερhōsperAs [it was]G5618
√ ὥσπερ — just as, iAdverb
Comparative particle; carries no weight of its own beyond insisting that the likeness is exact.
αἱhaiin theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιhēmeraidaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounNominative Feminine Plural
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΝῶεNōeNoahG3575
√ Νῶε — Noë, (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Νῶε: Noah The one proper name in the unit, and the whole appeal to Genesis rests on it. Ellicott observes that Mark and Luke, writing for Gentile readers, drop the Noah reference at this point and substitute a general call to watchfulness, while Matthew, writing for Hebrew readers, keeps it. That is a claim about audience, not about text; the Verifier's bases confirm only that the rare name is shared with Luke 17:27, 1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5 and Hebrews 11:7.
οὕτωςhoutōssoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἔσταιestaiwill it beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἡhēat theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
παρουσίαparousiacomingG3952
√ παρουσία — a being near, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
παρουσία: a being near, presence, arrival Matthew's chosen noun for the event the disciples asked about in verse 3. It frames verses 37 and 39 as a pair of brackets around the flood scene, so that the Genesis material is not an illustration dropped in but the very shape of the arrival. Pulpit states the point flatly: the parousia shall fall on a world incredulous and heedless.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΥἱοῦHuiouSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἄνθρωπος: man In the title the genitive is generic, not personal; it says kinship with the race that will be judged. Maclaren, commenting on verses 42 to 51, notices the shift of designations in this discourse between “your Lord,” who stands in a special relation to the disciples, and “the Son of Man,” of kindred with all men and their Judge.
38

For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hōs en ekeinais tais hēmerais pro tais tou kataklysmou ēsan trōgontes kai pinontes gamountes kai gamizontes achri hēs hēmeras Nōe eisēlthen eis tēn kibōton

Word by word25 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ὡςhōsG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐκείναιςekeinaisG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Feminine Plural
ταῖςtaistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιςhēmeraisdaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Plural
πρὸprobeforeG4253
√ πρό — "fore", iPreposition
ταῖςtaisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
κατακλυσμοῦkataklysmoufloodG2627
√ κατακλυσμός — an inundationNounGenitive Masculine Singular
κατακλυσμός: an inundation A rare noun, counted by the Verifier in only 4 verses, and shared with 2 Peter 2:5. It is the technical Greek word for the flood, and its rarity is what makes the lexical tie to Peter's letters a real one rather than an accident of common vocabulary.
ἦσανēsan[people] wereG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
Imperfect of εἰμί; with the four participles it forms the periphrastic construction Pulpit reads as habitude rather than a single act.
τρώγοντεςtrōgonteseatingG5176
√ τρώγω — or perhaps rather of a base of G5167 (τρυγών) and G5149 (τρίζω) through the idea of a craunching soundVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
τρώγω: to gnaw, to crunch The word choice, not the activity, carries the verdict. Gill is careful that these are lawful acts in themselves, criminal only in their abuse, and then argues from this verb and from Genesis 6:2 that abuse is exactly what is meant: gluttony, drunkenness, unlawful unions. Barnes takes the opposite line, that the things mentioned were not wrong and the point is only heedlessness. The lexicon supports Gill's reading of the verb; Barnes's reading of the sentence stands on the parallel in verse 39, where the fault named is simply not knowing.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πίνοντεςpinontesdrinkingG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
γαμοῦντεςgamountesmarryingG1060
√ γαμέω — to wed (of either sex)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γαμίζοντεςgamizontesgiving in marriageG1061
√ γαμίσκω — to espouse (a daughter to a husband)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
γαμίσκω: to give a daughter in marriage The second participle of the pair, naming the parents' side of the transaction. Its presence keeps the scene domestic and ordinary, which is the force of the comparison: what condemned that generation was not spectacular wickedness but an unbroken ordinariness that took no account of the warning.
ἄχριachriup toG891
√ ἄχρι — (of time) until or (of place) up toPreposition
ἧςhēstheG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἡμέραςhēmerasdayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ΝῶεNōeNoahG3575
√ Νῶε — Noë, (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἰσῆλθενeisēlthenenteredG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰσέρχομαι: to enter Aorist, a single decisive act, set against the imperfect habit of the participles. One man goes in on one day; everyone else goes on gnawing. Pulpit notes that in using the episode this way Christ confirms the historical accuracy of the Genesis narrative.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κιβωτόνkibōtonarkG2787
√ κιβωτός — a box, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
κιβωτός: a box, a chest The vessel is named only as the place Noah entered, and the entering, not the building, is the hinge of the sentence. Gill stresses that the generation persisted in their course all the while the ark was building and right up to the day of entry, so that the visible warning stood among them for as long as it took to build.
39

And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ouk egnōsan heōs ho kataklysmos ēlthen kai ēren hapantas kai houtōs estai hē parousia tou Huiou tou anthrōpou

Word by word19 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἔγνωσανegnōsanthey were obliviousG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
γινώσκω: to come to know The verb of the whole discourse, used of the antediluvians here, of the disciples at verse 43, and of the wicked steward at verse 50. In each case the failure is one of recognition rather than of information: the ark stood in plain sight, and Gill says they slighted and despised the warnings until God gave them up to judicial blindness. Pulpit adds that they would not comprehend the signs, preferring their own carnal pleasures.
ἕωςheōsuntilG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Conjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κατακλυσμὸςkataklysmosfloodG2627
√ κατακλυσμός — an inundationNounNominative Masculine Singular
κατακλυσμός: an inundation Second occurrence, and the grammar changes: in verse 38 the flood was a genitive, the thing the days came before, and here it is the nominative subject of two aorist verbs, coming and taking, so that it acts rather than merely happens. The noun is rare (the Verifier counts it in 4 verses) and it is the lexical hinge of two threads in this unit, since 2 Peter 2:5 is the one other place in the New Testament that sets it beside the name of Noah. Gill presses the totality it carries here, that the deluge reached all the inhabitants of the world and eight persons only were excepted; the very next verse divides two men in one field, so the flood's completeness is the figure's point and also the place where the figure stops.
ἦλθενēlthencameG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦρενērenswept them all awayG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αἴρω: to lift up, to carry off The verb makes the water an agent that picks people up. Set beside ἅπαντας it gives the totality that Gill presses: the whole world of the ungodly, eight persons excepted.
ἅπανταςhapantas. . .G537
√ ἅπας — absolutely all or (singular) every oneAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὕτωςhoutōsSoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἔσταιestaiwill it beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἡhē[at] theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
παρουσίαparousiacomingG3952
√ παρουσία — a being near, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
παρουσία: a being near, presence The repetition from verse 37 closes the bracket. Ellicott reads the whole comparison as an argument about the nature of the signs: if the tokens of the advent were plain to the eye of sense, this reckless apathy of nescience could not occur, so the signs must be such as only illumined insight discerns. That is Ellicott's inference, and the text supports it only as far as it reports that no one knew.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΥἱοῦHuiouSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
40

Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

tote dyo esontai en tō agrō heis paralambanetai kai heis aphietai

Word by word11 · parsed
τότεtoteG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
δύοdyoTwo [men]G1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔσονταιesontaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἀγρῷagrōfieldG68
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounDative Masculine Singular
ἀγρός: a field The ordinary place of ordinary work. Cambridge draws the inference the scene is built for: the world's work will be going on then as now, and a real separation runs through this life beneath an external sameness.
εἷςheisoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
παραλαμβάνεταιparalambanetaiwill be takenG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
παραλαμβάνω: to take to oneself, to receive near The interpretive crux of the unit. Ellicott weighs the alternatives and, from the verb's use at Matthew 1:20, Matthew 1:24, Matthew 12:45, John 1:11 and John 14:3, favours taken as received into fellowship. Pulpit surveys both readings, quotes Bengel's reading that one is taken into safekeeping as Noah was with his house while the other is left among the perils, and prefers that; Barnes holds the opposite, that taken probably means taken away by death; Gill, reading the whole chapter of the fall of Jerusalem, says taken by the Roman eagles. The verb itself will not decide between them, and this synthesis does not pretend to.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἷςheis[the other]G1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀφίεταιaphietaileftG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἀφίημι: to send away, to let go, to leave The counterpart verb, and equally two-edged. Poole declines to choose between the coming in grace and the coming in judgment, saying it is true of both, and then judges that the separation of sheep from goats at the last day fits the context better.
41

Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

dyo alēthousai en tō mylō mia paralambanetai kai mia aphietai

Word by word10 · parsed
δύοdyoTwo [women]G1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
ἀλήθουσαιalēthousaiwill be grindingG229
√ ἀλήθω — to grindVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Plural
ἀλήθω: to grind A rare verb, and its feminine participle carries the whole scene. Ellicott reads the picture as the lowest form of female labour, noting that in Judges 16:21 and Lamentations 5:13 grinding is the crowning degradation of male captives; Gill gathers rabbinic rulings that put grinding first among the works a wife owed her husband and shows two women sharing one hand mill. The pairing with verse 40 therefore reaches from the field to the house, and from men's work to women's.
ἐνenatG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
μύλῳmylōmillG3458
√ μύλος — a "mill", iNounDative Masculine Singular
μύλος: a mill Household hardware. Ellicott's suggestion that the illustration, like the fig tree, may have been drawn from what lay before the Lord's eyes on the Mount of Olives at that moment is a conjecture and reads as one; the ✦ descriptions from Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit are simply realia and can be trusted as such.
μίαmiaoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
παραλαμβάνεταιparalambanetaiwill be takenG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
παραλαμβάνω: to take to oneself Identical verb and identical tense to verse 40, so whatever is decided there governs here. Cambridge simply cross-refers to the preceding verse, which is the honest course.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μίαmia[the other]G1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
ἀφίεταιaphietaileftG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
42

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oun Grēgoreite hoti ouk oidate hēmera poia hymōn ho kyrios erchetai

Word by word11 · parsed
οὖνounThereforeG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
ΓρηγορεῖτεGrēgoreitekeep watchG1127
√ γρηγορεύω — to keep awake, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
γρηγορεύω: to keep awake The imperative that governs the rest of the unit; it returns in the aorist at verse 43 of the householder who would have stayed awake. Maclaren's exposition turns on the literal sense and names the opposite as spiritual drowsiness and torpor, adding that the religion of multitudes is a sleepy religion. Benson glosses the command as having the mind thoroughly awake to the certainty and importance of these things, and Geneva reads the whole passage as an example of the horrible carelessness of men in the matters where care is most owed.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
οἴδατεoidateyou do not knowG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
εἴδω: to know (perfect) The same perfect as verse 36, now turned on the hearers. The logic of the unit is that ignorance of the date is not a deficiency to be remedied but the standing condition under which the command to stay awake is issued.
ἡμέρᾳhēmera[the] dayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ποίᾳpoiaon whichG4169
√ ποῖος — individualizing interrogative (of character) what sort of, or (of number) which oneInterrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Feminine Singular
ποῖος: of what sort An interrogative of quality, which is why the command cannot be satisfied by calculation. Pulpit also reports that many good manuscripts read “on what day” here rather than “what hour,” and judges that the genuine reading, “hour” having been drawn in from verse 44; the Berean interlinear in the brief agrees, giving ἡμέρᾳ ποίᾳ.
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κύριοςkyriosLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
κύριος: supreme in authority, lord The title that will carry the parable of verses 45 to 51, where the same noun names the master of the household. Verse 42 therefore seeds the parable: the one whose arrival is unknown is the one to whom the house belongs.
ἔρχεταιerchetaiwill comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
43

But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ginōskete ekeino hoti ei ho oikodespotēs ēdei poia phylakē ho kleptēs erchetai an egrēgorēsen kai an ouk eiasen autou tēn oikian diorychthēnai

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
γινώσκετεginōsketeunderstandG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἐκεῖνοekeinothisG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
εἰeiIfG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
οἰκοδεσπότηςoikodespotēshomeownerG3617
√ οἰκοδεσπότης — the head of a familyNounNominative Masculine Singular
οἰκοδεσπότης: head of a household The figure the rest of the unit will turn inside out. Here the master of the house is the disciple and the thief is the Lord; at verse 45 the master of the house is the Lord and the disciple is the slave. Pulpit says the first arrangement plainly: the householder is the disciple of Christ, the thief is Christ himself, and calls it a strange comparison calculated to alarm the unwary. Pulpit also rejects the alternative that the thief is the devil as unsuited to the context.
ᾔδειēdeihad knownG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPluperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ποίᾳpoiain whichG4169
√ ποῖος — individualizing interrogative (of character) what sort of, or (of number) which oneInterrogative / Indefinite PronounDative Feminine Singular
φυλακῇphylakēwatch of the nightG5438
√ φυλακή — a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the personNounDative Feminine Singular
φυλακή: a watch of the night The unit's third way of naming an unknown time, after day and hour. Ellicott notes that Luke 12:38 specifies the second or the third watch, so the vocabulary of night watches belongs to this cluster of sayings rather than to Matthew alone.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κλέπτηςkleptēsthiefG2812
√ κλέπτης — a stealer (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
κλέπτης: a stealer Counted by the Verifier in 16 verses, and paired here with the rare διορύσσω exactly as at Matthew 6:19. Ellicott traces the image into the proverbial apostolic saying that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, quoted by Paul at 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Barnes adds 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3 and Revelation 16:15. Barnes also insists on the word's force: not a pilferer but a housebreaker, one who takes by violence.
ἔρχεταιerchetaiwas comingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἂνanvvvG302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
ἐγρηγόρησενegrēgorēsenhe would have kept watchG1127
√ γρηγορεύω — to keep awake, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
γρηγορεύω: to keep awake (aorist) The verb of the command in verse 42, here in the aorist inside a contrary to fact conditional. Pulpit reads the syntax strictly: εἰ with the indicative and ἄν with the aorist implies that the result did not happen. The householder did not stay awake, so the illustration is a failure story, and the imperative of verse 42 is the only thing that keeps it from being the hearer's story too.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἂνanvvvG302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
οὐκouk{would} notG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
εἴασενeiasenhave letG1439
√ ἐάω — to let be, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
οἰκίανoikianhouseG3614
√ οἰκία — properly, residence (abstractly), but usually (concretely) an abode (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
διορυχθῆναιdiorychthēnaibe broken intoG1358
√ διορύσσω — to penetrate burglariouslyVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
διορύσσω: to dig through A rare verb, in only 4 verses by the Verifier's count, which is what makes the tie to Matthew 6:19 a genuinely verbal one. Gill fills in the legal world behind it, citing the rabbinic rulings on Exodus 22:2 that a burglar who comes in by digging may be killed, and observing that a householder with such a law on his side would never let his house be entered by digging if he could help it.
44

For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

dia touto hymeis kai ginesthe hetoimoi hoti ho Huios tou anthrōpou erchetai hē hōra ou dokeite

Word by word16 · parsed
διὰdiaFor this reasonG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τοῦτοtouto. . .G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὑμεῖςhymeisyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaialsoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γίνεσθεginesthemust beG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbPresent Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
γίνομαι: to become, to come to be A present imperative of becoming, which makes readiness a state to be entered and maintained rather than a box checked. Gill spends his longest note in this unit on what readiness is not (not absolute mercy presumed upon, not outward humiliation, not mere abstinence from grosser sins, not legal or civil righteousness, not submission to ordinances, not a profession of religion) and then says what he takes it to be: being in Christ, clothed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, regenerate, believing. That is Gill's doctrine, not the verb's, but the verb's middle voice does put the action on the person addressed.
ἕτοιμοιhetoimoireadyG2092
√ ἕτοιμος — adjusted, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἕτοιμος: adjusted, prepared Benson glosses the readiness concretely: assured of God's favour, stamped with his image, holding the objects of this transitory world loosely, prepared to receive every event of providence with resignation. Maclaren's structural point is worth keeping alongside it, that readiness is what wakefulness produces.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἔρχεταιerchetaiwill comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἔρχομαι: to come The same present as verse 42, now with “the Son of Man” instead of “your Lord.” Maclaren notices the substitution and reads it as a shift from the one who stands in a special relation to the disciples to the one of kindred with all men who is their Judge.
ᾗhēat anG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Feminine Singular
ὥρᾳhōrahourG5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounDative Feminine Singular
ὥρα: an hour The third of the unit's names for the unknown time, after day (v. 36, v. 42) and watch (v. 43); it will be joined to day once more in verse 50, where both are said of the wicked steward. Pulpit reports that “hour” here is probably what was later copied back into verse 42 in place of “day.”
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
δοκεῖτεdokeiteyou do not expectG1380
√ δοκέω — compare the base of G1166 (δεικνύω)) of the same meaningVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
δοκέω: to suppose, to think A verb of opinion, and the hinge of Ellicott's warning: the signs of the advent were meant only to rouse the faithful to watchfulness, not to let anyone fix the times and seasons that the Father has set in his own power, and Ellicott judges that the long record of failed attempts at apocalyptic chronology could have been avoided had men kept their efforts after knowledge within the limits of the knowable. Pulpit adds the application that makes the verse personal, that in a real sense the day of death is the coming of Christ.
45

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time?

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Tis ara estin ho pistos kai phronimos doulos hon ho kyrios katestēsen epi autou tēs oiketeias tou dounai autois tēn trophēn en kairō

Word by word23 · parsed
ΤίςTisWhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἄραarathenG686
√ ἄρα — a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as follows)Conjunction
ἐστὶνestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
πιστὸςpistosfaithfulG4103
√ πιστός — objectively, trustworthyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
πιστός: trustworthy The brief glosses it “objectively, trustworthy,” which is the steward's whole qualification: Cambridge says the master chose him on account of his trustworthiness and intelligence. Gill lists what faithfulness means for a minister in practice, preaching the whole of the Gospel and concealing no part of it, not seeking to please men, not seeking his own ease, honour or profit, and standing by the truth at all hazards.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
φρόνιμοςphronimoswiseG5429
√ φρόνιμος — thoughtful, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
φρόνιμος: thoughtful, practically wise Ellicott's definition is the most exact note any voice supplies in this unit, and it governs the parable: the wisdom required is the kind that fits means to ends, and he calls the resulting skill an art of spiritual dietetics, which needs tact and discernment as well as faithfulness. Ellicott also warns against importing the common reading of “rightly dividing the word of truth” at 2 Timothy 2:15 here, judging that image to be of an entirely different character.
δοῦλοςdoulosservantG1401
√ δοῦλος — a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntaryNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὃνhonwhomG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κύριοςkyriosmasterG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
κατέστησενkatestēsenhas put in chargeG2525
√ καθίστημι — to place down (permanently), iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθίστημι: to place down, to appoint The appointment is the master's act, and everything in the parable follows from that. Pulpit draws the consequence: it is the Lord who selects and appoints the steward, who is neither self-constituted nor appointed by those over whom he rules. Gill adds the limit on the office, that the rule is not lordship over God's heritage or arbitrary government but rule according to the word of God and the laws of his house.
ἐπὶepiofG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
οἰκετείαςoiketeiashouseholdG3610
√ οἰκέτης — a fellow resident, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
οἰκετεία: the body of household slaves The charge is fellow slaves, which is what makes verse 49 an atrocity rather than mere mismanagement: the man beats his own kind. Cambridge's Latin familia and the Roman estate behind the imagery keep the scale concrete, and Cambridge notes that the English word “dispensation” in religious use descends from this passage and its parallels.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
δοῦναιdounaito giveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
αὐτοῖςautois[the others]G846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τὴνtēn[their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
τροφὴνtrophēnfoodG5160
√ τροφή — nourishment (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
τροφή: nourishment Ellicott notes that Luke 12:42 uses instead a word for a measured portion of meal, and unfolds the figure into the range of spiritual food, the milk of 1 Peter 2:2 and Hebrews 5:12 and the solid food of the mature. Barnes explains that “meat” in the English of 1611 meant food of every kind, so the older rendering is not narrower than the Greek, only older.
ἐνenatG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
καιρῷkairōthe proper timeG2540
√ καιρός — an occasion, iNounDative Masculine Singular
καιρός: an occasion, a fit season The word that makes the steward's work a matter of judgement rather than routine. Gill gives the practical version, that the portion must suit each one's age, appetite and digestion, and be given as their circumstances call for it, whether they are weary, or in the dark, or under temptation. Pulpit extends the office beyond the clergy to civil rulers, the rich and all men, on the ground that every endowment is a trust to be used in God's service and for the good of others.
46

Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

makarios ekeinos ho doulos hon autou ho kyrios heurēsei poiounta houtōs elthōn

Word by word12 · parsed
μακάριοςmakariosBlessed [is]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
μακάριος: supremely blest The only beatitude in the unit, and it is pronounced not on the steward's achievement but on the timing of his being found. Pulpit reads the verse as the answer to the question of verse 45: the Lord asked who the faithful and wise servant is, and answers that it is the one his lord finds duly performing the duties of his office, adding that no happier lot can befall a man in a responsible position.
ἐκεῖνοςekeinosthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
δοῦλοςdoulosservantG1401
√ δοῦλος — a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntaryNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὃνhonwhoseG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
αὐτοῦautou. . .G846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κύριοςkyriosmasterG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εὑρήσειheurēseifindsG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εὑρίσκω: to find The verb that makes the hidden hour a mercy rather than a threat for this man. Gill glosses what is found as acting the faithful and wise part, ruling the household well, giving all of them wholesome food in a proper portion at the right time, and he takes the coming to cover all three of the unit's registers at once: in judgment on Jerusalem, at death, and at the last day.
ποιοῦνταpoiountahim doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Singular
οὕτωςhoutōssoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἐλθὼνelthōnwhen he returnsG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἔρχομαι: to come (aorist participle) Subordinated to the finding. Ellicott reads the verse beyond its letter, noting that as there are days of the Lord in the history of churches and nations, so the Lord comes to individuals in the crises of their lives, of which the day of death is one; that is an extension of the words, and Ellicott presents it as such by saying Christian insight has rightly given them a wider application.
47

Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

amēn legō hymin hoti katastēsei auton epi pasin autou tois hyparchousin

Word by word11 · parsed
ἀμὴνamēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
ἀμήν: firm, so be it A Hebrew particle carried untranslated into Greek, and the interlinear parses it exactly so. Gill catches the function if not the philology: nothing is a greater truth, more certain, or to be depended on, than this. It is the only oath in the unit, and it is spent on a reward rather than on a threat.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
καταστήσειkatastēseihe will put him in chargeG2525
√ καθίστημι — to place down (permanently), iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθίστημι: to appoint, to set over The second appointment, and the grammar makes it a different order of thing from the first. Pulpit sets it beside Luke 16:10, that he who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much, and then admits the limit of our knowledge, that how the promise applies to the rewards of the kingdom we do not yet know, citing 1 Corinthians 2:9. Barnes is careful in the other direction, that this does not mean ministers will hold a higher rank but is a circumstance of the parable showing the effect of faithfulness.
αὐτόνauton. . .G846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐπὶepiofG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
πᾶσινpasinallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveDative Neuter Plural
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ὑπάρχουσινhyparchousinpossessionsG5225
√ ὑπάρχω — to begin under (quietly), iVerbPresent Participle ActiveDative Neuter Plural
ὑπάρχω: to be at hand, to exist Everything the master has, named as simply what there is. Ellicott finds in the promise an indication that the work of the faithful servant does not cease at death or even at the consummation, so that beyond the peace of Paradise there remains a task analogous to the training of this life, with scope for every faculty that has been disciplined here. Gill reads the same words as greater gifts and a larger degree of light in the church below before the inheritance of all things above.
48

But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ean ekeinos ho doulos kakos eipē en autou tē kardia mou ho kyrios Chronizei

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἘὰνEansupposeG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
Conditional particle with the subjunctive; it keeps the whole second half of the parable hypothetical.
ἐκεῖνοςekeinosthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
δοῦλοςdoulosservantG1401
√ δοῦλος — a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntaryNounNominative Masculine Singular
κακὸςkakos[is] wickedG2556
√ κακός — worthless (intrinsically, suchAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
κακός: worthless, bad The adjective that reverses verse 45. Pulpit's reading is the sharpest available: this is in a sense the same servant who was called faithful and prudent, and what has changed is that he no longer watches, because he no longer believes he may be called to account at any moment. Gill makes the same point from the other side, that a man may hold gifts, talents and the highest office in the church and be destitute of the grace of God.
εἴπῃeipē[and] saysG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
καρδίᾳkardiaheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounDative Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart, the seat of thought and will The decisive act of the parable is a sentence nobody hears. Gill glosses the saying as one the man strengthens himself in and takes pleasure in; Ellicott identifies the temper exactly with the scoffers of 2 Peter 3:3 to 4, and then draws the historical conclusion that the tyranny and sensuality which have at times stained the annals of the Church of Christ had their origin in this one forgetfulness.
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κύριοςkyriosmasterG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ΧρονίζειChronizeiwill be away a long timeG5549
√ χρονίζω — to take time, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
χρονίζω: to take time, to linger The pivot of the whole unit, because it is the exact inverse of verse 36. There, no one knows the day, and the conclusion drawn is stay awake; here, the same ignorance is read as a licence, and the conclusion drawn is that there is time. Ellicott notes that the word implies a real prescience that there would be what men would feel as delay, and that those who read the delay as Peter read it would remain watchful, while the selfish would be tempted by it. Pulpit reduces it to the sinner's word, “Tomorrow, tomorrow.”
49

And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai arxētai typtein autou tous syndoulous de esthiē kai pinē meta tōn methyontōn

Word by word13 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἄρξηταιarxētaihe beginsG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
ἄρχομαι: to begin Pulpit's reading of the aorist is the one this synthesis follows: the man has scarcely begun before the arrival interrupts him, so the parable does not describe a long tyranny but the first movements of one.
τύπτεινtypteinto beatG5180
√ τύπτω — to "thump", iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
τύπτω: to thump, to strike Gill turns the blows into their ministerial equivalents, usurping dominion over the faith of others, imposing on consciences what Christ never commanded, burdening people with unnecessary ceremonies, wounding weak minds, and persecuting those who will not conform; Pulpit cites 1 Peter 5:3 against lording it over the charge allotted. Barnes says simply that it represents ministers who are unfaithful and overbearing and abuse their trust in the church.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
συνδούλουςsyndoulousfellow servantsG4889
√ σύνδουλος — a co-slave, iNounAccusative Masculine Plural
σύνδουλος: a fellow slave The compound is the moral centre of the verse. The man appointed over the household staff in verse 45 is still one of them, and the food he was to hand out in due season he now consumes with strangers while striking the people it was meant for. Gill notes that he feeds himself instead of the family.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐσθίῃesthiēto eatG2068
√ ἐσθίω — used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by G5315 (φάγω)VerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πίνῃpinēdrinkG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
μεθυόντωνmethyontōndrunkardsG3184
√ μεθύω — to drink to intoxication, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
μεθύω: to drink to intoxication The same activity as verse 38, eating and drinking, now inside the household rather than outside the ark: the steward has joined the generation of Noah at table. The verb for drinking is literally the same lexeme (G4095 πίνω in both verses); the verb for eating is not, since verse 38 has the gnawing G5176 τρώγω and this verse the ordinary G2068 ἐσθίω, so the link is one shared lexeme plus a shared scene rather than a shared pair. The reading of the echo is ⚙ synthesis; the lexemes are the brief's. Pulpit notes that a self-indulgent minister, or one indiscreet in his friendships, has little influence in checking the excesses of his flock, citing Titus 2:7.
50

The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ho kyrios ekeinou tou doulou hēxei en hēmera hē ou prosdoka kai en hōra hē ou ginōskei

Word by word17 · parsed
ὁhoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κύριοςkyriosmasterG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκείνουekeinouof thatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
δούλουdoulouservantG1401
√ δοῦλος — a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntaryNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἥξειhēxeiwill comeG2240
√ ἥκω — to arrive, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἥκω: to arrive, to be present Arrival rather than approach, which is why there is no interval in this verse for the steward to compose himself. Gill takes the arrival across all three registers at once: in wrath and vengeance on the Jewish nation, often by death, and at the day of judgment.
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἡμέρᾳhēmeraa dayG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ᾗhēvvvG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Feminine Singular
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
προσδοκᾷprosdokahe does not expectG4328
√ προσδοκάω — to anticipate (in thought, hope or fear)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
προσδοκάω: to anticipate in thought, hope or fear Pulpit's gloss is the exact one, that the man has put away all thought of the sudden advent of the Lord. The verb allows fear as well as hope, so what the steward has lost is not optimism but attention.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenatG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὥρᾳhōraan hourG5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounDative Feminine Singular
ᾗhēvvvG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Feminine Singular
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
γινώσκειginōskeihe does not anticipateG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
γινώσκω: to come to know The unit's last use of the verb that began at verse 39, and the repetition is the argument: the generation of Noah did not know, the disciples do not know, the steward does not know. The difference is not information but what each does with the same ignorance. ⚙ That reading is ours; the shared lexeme G1097 across verses 39, 43, 50 is the brief's.
51

Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai dichotomēsei auton kai thēsei autou to meros meta tōn hypokritōn ekei estai ho klauthmos kai ho brygmos tōn odontōn

Word by word20 · parsed
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διχοτομήσειdichotomēseihe will cut him to piecesG1371
√ διχοτομέω — to bisect, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
διχοτομέω: to cut in two The hardest word in the unit, and the ✦ voices divide over whether to read it literally. Barnes lists the precedents for the penalty (Daniel 2:5, Daniel 3:29, 2 Samuel 12:31, 1 Samuel 15:33, 1 Kings 3:25, Hebrews 11:37) and then says it is probably not to be taken literally; Cambridge adds Suetonius on Caligula and the line from Susanna 59; Gill and Geneva report the Jewish tradition that Isaiah was sawn asunder, and Gill collects rabbinic instances of the penalty; Pulpit raises the structural objection, that a man literally cut in two cannot then be given a portion with the hypocrites, and surveys the patristic readings that make the cutting a separation from the saints, from grace, or from the promises. Ellicott's answer is the one this synthesis finds strongest, and it is moral rather than archaeological: the sentence fits the crime because the crime was duplicity.
αὐτὸνauton. . .G846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
θήσειthēseiassignG5087
√ τίθημι — to place (in the widest application, literally and figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῦautouhimG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
μέροςmerosa placeG3313
√ μέρος — a division or share (literally or figuratively, in a wide application)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
μέρος: a division, a share The vocabulary of allotment. Henry sets the two portions against each other, that those who choose the world for their portion in this life will have hell for their portion in the other, which is the plainest statement in the brief of why this ending is just rather than merely severe.
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὑποκριτῶνhypokritōnhypocritesG5273
√ ὑποκριτής — an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ὑποκριτής: an actor under an assumed character The word names the man's sin precisely, since his office and his heart said different things. Gill reads it of all who put on the mask of religion and do not answer to the character they bear; Benson, applying the parable to ministers, says no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while being slaves of avarice, ambition or sensuality. Pulpit notes that here the Lord drops the parable and speaks of the terrible reality.
ἐκεῖekei[where] thereG1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb
ἔσταιestaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κλαυθμὸςklauthmosweepingG2805
√ κλαυθμός — lamentationNounNominative Masculine Singular
κλαυθμός: lamentation A rare noun, in nine verses, and with βρυγμός it forms Matthew's standing formula for exclusion (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, and Luke 13:28). Every ✦ voice that comments cross-refers rather than expounding, which is itself evidence that the phrase was recognised as a set expression.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
βρυγμὸςbrygmosgnashingG1030
√ βρυγμός — a grating (of the teeth)NounNominative Masculine Singular
βρυγμός: a grating of the teeth Rarer still, in seven verses, and it never appears without κλαυθμός. Ellicott's note on the articles is the one exegetical observation made here: the weeping and the gnashing, already known to the hearers from earlier in this Gospel.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὀδόντωνodontōnteethG3599
√ ὀδούς — a "tooth"NounGenitive Masculine Plural

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 hour that is kept, not lost — 24:36

The unit opens on a perfect tense: οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, no one has come to know. Pulpit reads the two negations as a climb, “A kind of climax,” and notes that the sentence implies a definite day and moment fixed and known only to God. Cambridge marks the structural turn at the same verse: the discourse moves from the type, the fall of Jerusalem, to the antitype, the Day of Judgment, and stays there to the end of the following chapter. Gill dissents flatly, holding that the verse dates the destruction of the Jews and nothing else, and reasoning that the year might have been calculated from Daniel's weeks though the day and hour could not. Benson reports Grotius and Bishop Newton pressing ὥρα toward “season,” on the ground that a hidden day already implies a hidden hour. On the clause “not even the Son,” Ellicott refuses the softening that the Son knew but did not tell, calling it violence done to the plain meaning, and answers the difficulty from Philippians 2:7; Pulpit answers it instead from the hypostatic union and the Athanasian Creed, that Christ willed in his manhood not to know what in his Godhead he knew, and explicitly calls the other route an evasion; Poole says it in the first person, that as man he knows it not, and adds that this gives a great check to the curiosity of men's inquiries after the year. Geneva turns the whole verse pastoral: the date is hidden from us all for our sake, so that we may be the more watchful. ⚙ The one thing all of them agree on, across a real christological disagreement, is that the hidden hour is hidden on purpose.

ii. The generation that ate and did not know — 24:37-39

Matthew brackets the flood scene between two occurrences of παρουσία (G3952, glossed in the brief as “a being near”), so Genesis is not an illustration dropped into the discourse but the shape of the arrival itself. Ellicott notices that Mark and Luke drop the Noah appeal at this point and substitute a general call to watchfulness, and suggests they wrote for Gentile readers to whom the history was less familiar; he also notes how thickly Peter's two letters are stocked with the same material (1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5, 2 Peter 3:6). The verb of eating is the tell: Pulpit says τρώγοντες implies gnawing food greedily like an animal, and that the periphrastic ἦσαν τρώγοντες denotes habitude, not a single act; Gill, from the same verb and from Genesis 6:2, argues that gluttony and unlawful unions are actually meant, while Barnes holds that the acts named were not wrong at all and the fault was heedlessness only. Pulpit and Cambridge both refuse to reduce the comparison to suddenness: Pulpit points out that the antediluvians had perhaps more than a century's warning (Genesis 6:3, 1 Peter 3:20), and Cambridge that the Last Day will surprise men occupied in their pleasures and their business as the flood surprised all except those who watched. Pulpit also records, in passing, that Christ here confirms the historical accuracy of the Genesis episode. ⚙ Verse 39 ends with ἅπαντας, absolutely all, and the very next verse divides two men in one field: the analogy is pressed to the point where it breaks, and the text lets it break.

iii. One field, one mill, two destinies — 24:40-41

Both verbs are present indicative, παραλαμβάνεται and ἀφίεται, and Cambridge names the idiom a present of certainty, rendering “is taken or withdrawn”; Pulpit says Christ speaks as though he saw the scene before him. Who is taken is genuinely disputed among the ✦ voices, and the dispute is the honest content of these two verses. Ellicott argues from Matthew 1:20, Matthew 1:24, Matthew 12:45, John 1:11 and John 14:3 that the taken one is received, and concludes that the day of judgment will be by an inevitable law a day of separation. Pulpit lays out both routes at length, quotes Bengel's Latin note that one is taken into safekeeping as Noah was with his house while the other is left among whatever perils come, and prefers that reading. Barnes prefers the reverse, that taken probably means taken away by death. Gill, consistent with his reading of the chapter, says the one is taken by the eagles, the Roman army, and the other spared by a remarkable providence. Poole declines to choose and then leans to the last judgment, the sheep divided from the goats. Around the crux the realia are secure: Ellicott calls grinding the lowest form of female labour and cites Judges 16:21 and Lamentations 5:13 where it is the degradation of captives; Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit describe the hand quern, and Benson quotes Dr Clarke's 1812 Travels on two women passing the handle between them in a Nazareth courtyard; Gill gathers the rabbinic rulings that made grinding a wife's first duty. Cambridge states the moral of the pair: the world's work will be going on then as now, and a real separation runs through this life beneath an external sameness.

iv. Stay awake: the householder and the thief — 24:42-44

Γρηγορεῖτε is a present imperative of the verb to keep awake, and Maclaren builds his exposition on the etymology: watchfulness is literally wakefulness, and its opposite is spiritual drowsiness and torpor, so that the religion of multitudes is a sleepy religion. The reason given is not an estimate of the date but its quality: Pulpit reads ποίᾳ as of what kind, whether sudden, immediate or remote, and reports the manuscript evidence for “on what day” here, with “hour” drawn in from verse 44. Then the figure inverts. In verse 43 the master of the house is the disciple and the Lord is the burglar; Pulpit says so without flinching and rejects the reading that makes the thief the devil, and Ellicott traces the image into the proverb Paul quotes at 1 Thessalonians 5:2, with Barnes adding 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3 and Revelation 16:15. Barnes insists on the word: not a pilferer but a housebreaker. Cambridge and Pulpit correct the English of διορυχθῆναι to “dug through,” and Pulpit explains that walls of sun dried brick could be pierced where no bolt was, so that the householder's precautions were beside the point; Gill supplies the legal background from the rabbinic rulings on Exodus 22:2. Pulpit also reads the grammar of the conditional strictly: εἰ with the indicative and ἄν with the aorist means the householder did not in fact stay awake. Poole gathers the practical upshot from Luke 21:34 to 36, that such a life only makes anyone ready, and Barnes reports the same charge about hearts overcharged with surfeiting. ⚙ The command therefore does not rest on the failed householder's example but replaces it.

v. Two stewards, one household — 24:45-51

The question Τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ πιστὸς καὶ φρόνιμος δοῦλος is asked with the article, “the faithful and prudent slave,” and Pulpit notes that it is put interrogatively both because such a man is hard to find and so that each hearer may ask it of himself. Ellicott defines φρόνιμος precisely: the word ethical writers used for the moral wisdom that adapts means to ends, not the wisdom of contemplation nor technical skill, and he calls the steward's task an art of spiritual dietetics, the right food and the right season. Cambridge supplies the Roman estate behind the imagery, the villicus or dispensator over the familia with a daily or monthly allowance, and traces the word “dispensation” in religious English to this passage. Poole notes that the interrogative form intimates there are but few such, and joins Benson, Barnes, Gill and Cambridge in applying the figure first to the ministers of the gospel; Pulpit extends it to civil rulers, the rich and all men, on the ground that every endowment is a trust. The turn at verse 48 is a sentence spoken in the heart, Χρονίζει, my master is taking his time. Ellicott identifies the temper with 2 Peter 3:3 to 4 and draws the sharpest line in the unit, that the tyranny and sensuality which have at times stained the annals of the Church have had their origin in this one forgetfulness. Pulpit paraphrases it as the endless “Tomorrow, tomorrow.” The sentence on him is διχοτομήσει, he will cut him in two: Barnes lists the precedents (Daniel 2:5, Daniel 3:29, 2 Samuel 12:31, 1 Samuel 15:33, Hebrews 11:37), Cambridge adds Suetonius on Caligula and the verse from Susanna, Geneva and Gill report the Jewish tradition that Isaiah was sawn asunder, and Pulpit raises the plain difficulty that a man literally cut in two cannot then be assigned a portion with the hypocrites, surveying the patristic readings that make the cutting a separation from the saints or from grace. Ellicott's solution is the most economical and the most moral: the punishment was chosen for its figurative fitness, since the man had been double, and the sword of judgment smites through the false, apparent unity of his life and reveals its duplicity. Poole closes where the unit closes, that the case of any secure and debauched person is sad and the case of ministers who are so is dreadful.

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

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The unit is built on a single reversal: it takes away the one thing the disciples asked for, a date (v. 3, v. 36), and gives back in its place a set of ordinary rooms. A field. A hand mill. A house with mud walls. A pantry with a daily ration in it. Every command in these sixteen verses is discharged in one of those places, and none of them requires knowing anything about the calendar. That is why the flood is the right analogy and why it is pressed until it breaks: the generation of Noah was not condemned for miscalculating a date, and Genesis does not say they were even told one; they were condemned because a warning stood among them, in the shape of a half built chest, for as long as it took to build, and they went on gnawing. ⚙ The word for their failure is the word for the wicked steward's failure at verse 50, γινώσκει: not a missing fact but a refused recognition. So watchfulness in this unit cannot mean vigilance about the future. Maclaren is right that the word means wakefulness, and ⚙ the thing one stays awake to is the present: the fellow slaves who are due their food today, the household one actually has authority over. Notice that both halves of the unit put the decisive line inside an existing intimacy. Two men in one field, two women at one mill, one household with one steward in it: the separation does not arrive from outside and sort strangers, it runs through a partnership. And notice that the wicked steward is not a different man from the faithful one; Pulpit says plainly that he is in a sense the same man, the same appointment, the same keys, and the only variable is a sentence said privately in the heart. ⚙ If that is right, then the hardest thing in the passage is not verse 51 but verse 45, which is a question. It is left open. The text does not answer who the faithful and prudent steward is; it asks, and then describes two ways of holding the same office, and stops. We hold three things open with it. First, whether the one taken in verses 40 and 41 is rescued or carried off: Ellicott, Pulpit and Bengel say rescued, Barnes says taken by death, Gill says taken by the Roman army, and the verbs παραλαμβάνεται and ἀφίεται are each two-edged, so this synthesis declines to decide. Second, whether the unit speaks of AD 70, of the last day, or of both: Gill argues the first, Cambridge and Poole the second, Benson the layered reading that a prophecy may have several periods of completion. Third, how the Son's not knowing coheres with his deity, where Ellicott and Pulpit take genuinely different routes. ⚙ What we do not hold open is the imperative, because the passage does not make it wait on any of those answers. The line that follows as a pull quote is machine synthesis, not Scripture, and not a verse.

The hour is hidden so that the household will be visible.

⚙

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 same saying in Luke 17: Noah, the pair in the field, the pair at the mill verbal / quotation: confirmed

Luke reports the flood comparison and the two pairs in a different discourse, and the overlap is lexical as well as thematic: the rare name Νῶε at Luke 17:27, and at Luke 17:35 the same two verbs of taking and leaving that Matthew uses, with the same “one and one.” Cambridge cross-refers to Luke 17:27 to 29 and notes that Luke adds the destruction of Sodom to the flood; Ellicott observes that Luke's version of the Olivet discourse omits the Noah material and substitutes a call to watchfulness, which is why the parallel sits in Luke 17 rather than Luke 21. Poole declines to treat Luke 17:26 to 27 here at all, judging it spoken at another time and on another occasion, and reserves it for his comment on that chapter. ⚙ We therefore record a verbal link between two reports of one saying, not a claim that either evangelist copies the other.

Luke 17:27 · Luke 17:35

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes at Luke 17:27 include G3575 Νῶε (in 8 vv, rare) with G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv); at Luke 17:35, G3880 παραλαμβάνω (in 49 vv), G863 ἀφίημι (in 131 vv) and G1520 εἷς (in 288 vv). Greek to Greek, so shared Strong's numbers are computable, and the rare name Νῶε carries the link. Verbal in vocabulary only: no quotation of one Gospel by the other is claimed.

The flood itself: Genesis named, and still not a verbal link typological

Verses 37 to 39 do not allude to Genesis, they retell it: Noah by name, the days before the flood, the entering of the chest, the water that lifted all of them away. Pulpit notes that in using the episode this way Christ confirms the historical accuracy of the Genesis narrative, and cites Genesis 6:3 for the warning and Genesis 9:20 to 21 for the drinking; Gill cites Genesis 6:2 for the unlawful unions and counts the eight persons saved; Poole sends the reader to Genesis 6:3 to 5 for the security and debauchery of that time. ⚙ The appeal is explicit and the tier is still not verbal, for a mechanical reason that we would rather state than hide: Matthew's words carry Greek Strong's numbers and Genesis carries Hebrew ones, so no shared lexeme can be computed for this pair and the Verifier records no basis for it. What can be said is that Genesis supplies the figure (a warned generation, one man who enters, a flood that takes all) and Matthew reads the parousia by it. That is typology, and we tier it so.

Genesis 6:5 · Genesis 7:7 · Genesis 7:23

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the Verifier supplies no basis for this pair, so a verbal tier is unavailable however explicit the appeal. The recorded basis is figural and named: Matthew 24:37-39 uses G3575 Νῶε (in 8 vv), G2627 κατακλυσμός (in 4 vv) and G2787 κιβωτός to retell Genesis 6:5-7:23 by name. Ancient and widely held as a reading, since the Lord makes it himself.

Noah in the apostolic letters: the same two rare words verbal / quotation: confirmed

2 Peter 2:5 is the one other place in the New Testament that puts Νῶε and κατακλυσμός together, and both are rare. Ellicott builds on exactly this, noting that Peter's two letters teem with the history to which his Master's teaching had directed him, and citing 1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5 and 2 Peter 3:6; he reads the over eager expectation and the answering scorn of 2 Peter 3:3 to 8 as the pastoral setting in which the Lord's own refusal to fix a date mattered most. Pulpit cites 1 Peter 3:20 for the length of the warning, and Cambridge lists Hebrews 11:7 among the places that spell the name Noah rather than Noe. ⚙ The link is a shared stock of rare vocabulary about one event, which is a real verbal tie; it is not evidence that Peter or Hebrews is quoting Matthew, and we do not claim that.

2 Peter 2:5 · 1 Peter 3:20 · Hebrews 11:7

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexemes G3575 Νῶε (in 8 vv) and G2627 κατακλυσμός (in 4 vv) at 2 Peter 2:5; G3575 Νῶε with G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv) at 1 Peter 3:20; G3575 Νῶε with G4012 περί (in 304 vv) at Hebrews 11:7. All Greek to Greek. Verbal on the strength of the two rare lexemes; no direction of quotation is asserted.

The thief who digs through: Matthew 6:19 answered at Matthew 24:43 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The rare verb διορύσσω, to dig through a wall, occurs in only four verses of the New Testament, and two of them are in Matthew: the treasure on earth where thieves break through and steal, and this householder whose house is dug into while he sleeps. Cambridge makes the cross-reference itself, sending the reader from “to be broken up” here back to Matthew 6:19 to 20; Barnes does the same at both places. ⚙ The two passages together give one teaching about the same wall: in chapter 6 what is inside the wall is not worth defending, and in chapter 24 the wall will not hold anyway. The link is in the vocabulary, and the reading of the pair is ours.

Matthew 6:19 · Matthew 6:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1358 διορύσσω (in 4 vv, rare) and G2812 κλέπτης (in 16 vv) at Matthew 6:19; G2812 κλέπτης with G3772 οὐρανός (in 255 vv) and G3761 οὐδέ (in 129 vv) at Matthew 6:20. Same book, same author, same rare verb: a genuine verbal link.

The weeping and the gnashing: a fixed Matthean formula verbal / quotation: confirmed

The closing clause of verse 51 is a set phrase. κλαυθμός stands in nine verses and βρυγμός in seven, and they occur together, with the same adverb “there,” at Matthew 8:12, Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50, Matthew 22:13 and Luke 13:28. Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all cross-refer among these places rather than expounding the phrase afresh here (Barnes to Matthew 8:12, Gill to Matthew 13:42, Pulpit to Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13 and Matthew 25:30), and Ellicott notes the definite articles, “the weeping and the gnashing,” as elsewhere. ⚙ The formula is therefore not a description composed for the wicked steward but a citation of Matthew's own standing language for exclusion, which is part of why the parable's ending can be read as the Lord dropping the figure and naming the reality.

Matthew 8:12 · Matthew 13:42 · Matthew 22:13 · Luke 13:28

basis: Verifier: rare shared Greek lexemes G2805 κλαυθμός (in 9 vv) and G1030 βρυγμός (in 7 vv), with G1563 ἐκεῖ (in 94 vv) at Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50 and Luke 13:28, and with G5119 τότε (in 158 vv) at Matthew 22:13; G5207 υἱός (in 344 vv) at Matthew 8:12. All Greek to Greek, and the two rare nouns travel as a unit.

The wicked man gnashing his teeth in Psalm 112 structural / thematic: confirmed

Psalm 112 ends with the wicked man seeing the prosperity of the righteous, gnashing his teeth and melting away. ⚙ Matthew's formula for exclusion puts the same gesture at the same place, outside, where the reward of the faithful can be seen and not shared, and verse 51 sets it immediately after a portion is assigned with the hypocrites. We record this as motif only. No ✦ voice in this unit cites the Psalm, and the pair cannot be checked by shared Strong's numbers because one side is Greek and the other Hebrew, so nothing here is a quotation claim.

Psalm 112:10

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are not computable and the Verifier lists no basis for this pair, so a verbal tier is excluded. Recorded basis is a shared motif: the wicked gnashing the teeth at the sight of the righteous rewarded (Psalm 112:10) behind G1030 βρυγμός τῶν ὀδόντων (G1030 in 7 vv, G3599 ὀδούς). No quotation is claimed, and no ✦ voice in this unit cites the Psalm.

A slave set over the whole house: Eliezer, and Joseph typological

The parable's opening move, a master who finds one slave trustworthy and sets him over the household, then over everything he owns, is a shape Genesis knows. Pulpit names the model explicitly: the idea is that some good and true slave is raised to the stewardship of his master's household, like Eliezer whom Abram advanced to this position (Genesis 15:2). ⚙ To Pulpit's Eliezer we add Joseph, who is put over Potiphar's house and then over all Pharaoh's, and who is exactly the slave found faithful in a small charge and promoted to a total one; that extension is ours, not Pulpit's, and it is offered as figural reading rather than as a source claim. Cambridge independently shows that the immediate furniture of the parable is Roman rather than Hebrew, the villicus over the familia with his measured ration, so the Genesis pattern is a resonance, not a derivation.

Genesis 15:2 · Genesis 39:4 · Genesis 41:40

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the Verifier offers no basis for these pairs, so this is never verbal. Recorded basis is the shape of the office: a slave found trustworthy is set over the house and then over all the master's goods (G2525 καθίστημι in Matthew 24:45 and 24:47, G3610 οἰκετεία, G5225 ὑπάρχοντα). Pulpit supplies the Eliezer parallel at Genesis 15:2; the Joseph pairing at Genesis 39:4 and Genesis 41:40 is this synthesis's own extension, novel here rather than widely held.

The same two stewards in Luke 12, and why this is not tiered verbal structural / thematic: confirmed

Verses 42 to 51 have no counterpart in Mark or Luke's Olivet discourse, but stand, as Ellicott puts it, almost verbatim in another discourse at Luke 12:42 and following, where Peter's question (“Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?”) prompts it. Ellicott weighs repetition against transfer and prefers repetition; Poole says honestly that he does not know whether it was spoken at the same time and on the same occasion. Cambridge, Pulpit and Gill all read Matthew's version in the light of Peter's question, and Cambridge notes Luke's “with the unbelievers” where Matthew has “with the hypocrites.” ⚙ Despite how close the two passages are, we decline a verbal tier: the lexemes the Verifier can actually count as shared are all common ones, and “almost verbatim” is Ellicott's judgement of the English and the sense, not a computed basis. Structural, with the reason stated.

Luke 12:39 · Luke 12:45 · Luke 12:46

basis: Verifier bases for these pairs are common lexemes only: G1492 εἴδω (in 296 vv), G5610 ὥρα (in 99 vv), G1097 γινώσκω (in 205 vv) at Luke 12:39; G1565 ἐκεῖνος (in 237 vv) and G4095 πίνω (in 64 vv) at Luke 12:45; G2250 ἡμέρα (in 368 vv), G5610 ὥρα and G1565 ἐκεῖνος at Luke 12:46. No rare shared lexeme, so no verbal tier, even though Ellicott judges the passages almost verbatim.

“Not even the Son”: a certain link to Mark, an uncertain reading in Matthew flagged: verify source

The Berean interlinear for verse 36 in this brief carries οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱός as words 14 to 16, and the ✦ voices are unanimous that the clause is at home in Mark 13:32 and contested here. Ellicott calls it “St Mark's addition” and says it is every way remarkable; Poole introduces it with “Mark addeth”; Barnes refers the reader to his note on Mark 13:32; Pulpit reports that it “has been introduced by some very good manuscripts into this place” and that the Revised Version admits the clause; Gill states that the Ethiopic version and the Cambridge copy of Beza add the words here and “seems to be transcribed from Mark 13:32.” ⚙ We flag rather than resolve. The link between the two verses is certain; what is uncertain is whether the clause belongs to Matthew's text, and every christological argument built on this verse in this Gospel inherits that uncertainty.

Mark 13:32

basis: Provenance disputed, and the dispute is textual rather than exegetical: the clause οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱός stands in this unit's interlinear at Matthew 24:36 words 14-16, but Ellicott calls it St Mark's addition, Pulpit says some very good manuscripts introduced it into this place (with the Revised Version admitting it), and Gill attributes it here to the Ethiopic version and the Cambridge copy of Beza as transcribed from Mark 13:32. Greek to Greek, so a verbal basis would be computable, but the reading itself needs verifying before any tier is earned.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Son who does not know the hour ancient/widely-held

✦ Ellicott refuses to dilute verse 36 into a statement that the Son knew and withheld, and finds his help in Philippians 2:7: the eternal Word, in becoming flesh, emptied himself of the infinity belonging to the divine attributes and took the limitations incidental to man's nature, even untainted by evil. ✦ Pulpit reaches the same reverence by a different road, the hypostatic union, affirming with the Athanasian Creed that Christ is equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferior as touching his manhood, and that he imposed a restriction on his omniscience in this matter; Pulpit expressly calls the alternative (that he knew it but not so as to reveal it) an evasion rather than an explanation. ✦ Poole states the limit in the first person, that as man he knows it not, and adds that this is no more derogatory than saying that Christ as man was not omnipotent. ✦ Barnes simply sends the reader to Acts 1:7, where the times and seasons are what the Father has put in his own power. ⚙ What the passage gives is not a gap in Christ but a shape: the one who will come as judge is the one who, in the days of his flesh, lived by the Father's reserve instead of around it, and the command to stay awake is therefore issued by someone who kept it first. The apostolic reading behind this is old and broad, and Pulpit records that it has been argued against since the Arians; the kenotic and the two natures routes are both ancient, and this synthesis does not choose between them.

Mark 13:32 · Philippians 2:7 · Acts 1:7

The ark and the Son of Man: judgment announced by the one who saves through it ancient/widely-held

✦ The comparison is the Lord's own, and Pulpit notes that in making it he confirms the historical accuracy of the Genesis episode; ✦ Gill draws the line from the eight persons in the chest to the few who were directed out of Jerusalem; ✦ Ellicott gathers Peter's use of the same history (1 Peter 3:20, 2 Peter 2:5, 2 Peter 3:6) and reads 2 Peter 3:3 to 8 as the pastoral situation where the hidden date mattered most. ⚙ The redemptive shape is in the sequence, not only in the suddenness. A warning is given, and it is given by a builder: the ark was itself the sermon, standing half finished among the people for as long as it took to make. In Matthew the same structure recurs with the warner and the vessel collapsed into one person, so that the coming Son of Man is also the standing warning, and the day Noah entered corresponds to the day when what was announced becomes what has arrived. ⚙ We also register where the analogy stops: the flood took absolutely all (ἅπαντας), and verses 40 and 41 divide two of two, so the ark's eight are the point of the figure and its limit at once. This reading of Noah as the figure of salvation through judgment is ancient and everywhere in the apostolic letters, and nothing in it is original to us.

Genesis 7:7 · 1 Peter 3:20 · 2 Peter 2:5

The thief at the wall is the Lord of the house ancient/widely-held

✦ Pulpit says it without softening: the householder is the disciple of Christ, the thief is Christ himself, who comes on the unwatchful when and where they expect him not, and Pulpit rejects the reading that makes the thief the devil as unsuited to the context. ✦ Ellicott traces the image into the proverbial apostolic saying that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, quoted by Paul at 1 Thessalonians 5:2; ✦ Barnes adds 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3 and Revelation 16:15, and insists the Greek word means a housebreaker, not a pilferer. ⚙ The scandal of the figure is the christology in it. The one who comes through the wall owns the house; the disciple who locks the door has secured property that was never his against an owner who needs no door. That is why verse 44 does not say “defend yourselves” but “become ready,” and why the next parable turns the roles over and makes the disciple the slave and the Lord the master of the house. ⚙ We note honestly that the Gospels give the image without explaining it, and that the apostolic letters repeat rather than resolve it.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 · Revelation 3:3 · Revelation 16:15

The question of verse 45 and the servant who answers it novel

✦ The verse is a question with a definite article, and Pulpit notes that it is asked partly because the man is hard to find, so that each hearer must put it to himself; ✦ Poole says the interrogative intimates that there are but few such; ✦ Ellicott defines the required wisdom as the practical kind that fits means to ends, and the required work as giving each one the food he needs at the season he needs it. ✦ Barnes, Benson, Gill and Cambridge all read the office of the apostles and ministers into it, Cambridge tracing “stewards of the mysteries of God” at 1 Corinthians 4:1 and “the steward of God” at Titus 1:7 to this passage. ⚙ Our own fallible extension, offered to be tested and marked novel because no ✦ voice in this unit says it: the parable defines the faithful steward by three things, that he was set in place by the master and not by himself, that he feeds the household rather than himself, and that he is found doing it when the master comes, and ⚙ we take it that one person in this discourse meets all three: the speaker, who holds his commission from the Father and not from himself (v. 36), who feeds the household rather than consuming it, and who is found at his work when he is looked for. We flag the weakness of this honestly. No ✦ voice in this brief makes the identification, and the passages that would carry it lie outside this unit, so it is offered as a line of reading to be tested rather than as a result. If it holds, the question of verse 45 is not primarily a test the hearer passes or fails but an office already filled, into which stewards are appointed. We mark this novel and would rather be corrected than have it read as the tradition's judgement.

1 Corinthians 4:1 · Titus 1:7 · Matthew 25:21

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)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • 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. The base text is the BSB with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers as given in the brief. One reading in this unit is genuinely disputed and affects doctrine: the clause οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱός, “not even the Son,” stands in the interlinear at verse 36 (words 14 to 16), while Ellicott calls it St Mark's addition, Poole introduces it with “Mark addeth,” Pulpit reports that some very good manuscripts introduced it into this place and that the Revised Version admits it, and Gill assigns it here to the Ethiopic version and the Cambridge copy of Beza. It is tiered “flagged: verify source” in the threads for that reason. Pulpit also reports that many good manuscripts read “on what day” rather than “what hour” at verse 42, which the interlinear's ἡμέρᾳ ποίᾳ supports, and that the best manuscripts read “the Father” rather than “my Father” at verse 36 and omit ἐλθεῖν at verse 48.

Sources. Eleven public domain commentators are present. JFB contributes no note on any verse of Matthew 24: every JFB entry in the brief is the chapter heading referring the reader to Mark 13, and it is quoted once at verse 37 for exactly that reason. Henry's Concise Commentary is blocked, one entry covering verses 29 to 41 and another verses 42 to 51, so a Henry excerpt speaks for its block and not for the single verse it is attached to. Several Geneva entries in this unit (verses 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50) reproduce the verse text with no marginal gloss, so Geneva is quoted only where it actually annotates (verses 36, 40, 41, 42, 51). Maclaren appears at verse 42 only, and his entry is capped in the brief; the excerpt used is from the opening section, which was available in full. The Gill entries at verses 36 and 44 and the Benson entry at verse 37 are also capped; nothing quoted here comes from the capped remainder. Benson's mill description is a quotation of Dr E. D. Clarke's Travels (1812) inside Benson, and Pulpit's is a quotation of Geikie; Pulpit's verse 39 note quotes Chrysostom, and its verse 40 note quotes Bengel in Latin. The Pulpit text as supplied contains obvious transcription slips (“is deft” for “is left,” “hence be becomes unfaithful,” “Eve hath not seen”), which is one reason no excerpt was anchored across them.

What is uncertain. Three things in this unit are unresolved and are left unresolved here rather than smoothed. First, the referent of the whole passage: Gill reads verses 36 to 51 of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and says so at every verse; Cambridge marks verse 36 as the turn from that type to the Day of Judgment; Benson argues for a layered fulfilment; Poole and Pulpit read the last judgment with an application to the day of each person's death. Second, the destiny of the one taken in verses 40 and 41, where Ellicott and Pulpit (with Bengel) say received, Barnes says taken by death, Gill says taken by the Roman army, and the two Greek verbs will support either. Third, how verse 36's ignorance coheres with the Son's deity, where Ellicott's kenotic route and Pulpit's two natures route differ. Two further cautions: Ellicott's suggestions that Mark and Luke omitted the Noah material for Gentile readers, and that the field and the mill were in view on the Mount of Olives as the Lord spoke, are his own conjectures and he flags the second as such. Every cross-Testament thread in this unit (Genesis, Psalm 112) is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, because Greek and Hebrew Strong's numbers cannot be compared and the Verifier supplies no basis for those pairs; the Joseph typology at Genesis 39 and 41 is this synthesis's own extension of Pulpit's Eliezer parallel and is marked novel in its basis. No verse in this unit lacks interlinear words, and no note key falls outside the word indices supplied.

✦ = 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)