Mark 13:18
Pray that this will not occur in the winter.
BSB
ASV
And pray ye that it be not in the winter.
KJV
And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.
Hippolytus otherwise interprets that which is said in the Gospel, When indeed ye shall see the pollution of desolation : for he says that it is not concerning the Jews, and the laying waste of Jerusalem, that these things are said, but concerning the end of Antichrist. The elect he speaks of are the Christians who are in this conflict. And He says, Pray that ye fly not on the Sabbath or in winter : i. e.
1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
We are taught in these verses the lawfulness of using means to provide for our own personal safety . The language of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject is clear and unmistakable — "Let those who be in Judea FLEE to the mountains — let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house — let him that is in the field not turn back again — pray you that your flight be not in the winter."
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
