Mark 13:31
in Mark 13Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
KJV
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
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This verse in Mark 13
Commentary
15 notes on this verseHeaven and earth shall pass away,.... Which may be understood either affirmatively, as what will be at the second coming of Christ; or comparatively, rather than any thing said by Christ should; and so shows the certainty and irreversibleness of his predictions, as it follows: but my words shall not pass away; which is true of all the words of Christ he ever spake, and here particularly relates to those he had just delivered, concerning the calamities that should come upon the Jewish nation; See Gill on Mat 24:35.
This site's exposition
this generation will not pass away
on Mark 13:30-31
In this generation will not pass away, genea may mean those then living, and Jerusalem fell within forty years. It may also mean a race, the Jewish people, or the generation alive when the signs begin.
This site's exposition
My words will never pass away
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call this the strongest claim of divine authority, words no mere man could say of his own words. Bede holds that heaven and earth will pass away in their present form. Methodius reads it as a change into glory.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Ambrose of MilanExposition of the Christian Faith 5.4.192 · Written before 397.
proposed
For just as he calls the things that are not as though they were, so he has made things future as though they were. It cannot come to pass that they should not be. Those things that he has directed to be necessarily will be. Therefore he who has made the things that are to be, knows them already in the way in which they are to be.
Although heaven and earth, and the things that are in them, may pass away, yet his divine speech regarding each individual thing, whether viewed as parts of a whole or species of a genus, shall by no means pass away. The utterances of God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, will not come to nothing.
A commentator
Methodius of OlympusMethodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection · Written before 311.
proposed
But if our opponents say, How then is it, if the universe be not destroyed, that the Lord says that "heaven and earth shall pass away;" and the prophet, that "the heaven shall perish as smoke, and the earth shall grow old as a garment;" we answer, because it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change of the world from its present condition to a better and more glorious one, destruction; as its earlier form is lost in the change of all things to a state of greater splendour; for there is no contradiction nor absurdity in the Holy Scriptures. For not "the world" but the "fashion of this world" passeth away, it is said; so it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change from an earlier form to a better and more comely state, destruction; just as when one calls by the name of destruction the change from a childish form into a perfect man, as the stature of the child is turned into manly size and beauty. We may expect that the creation will pass away, as if it were to perish in the burning, in order that it may be renewed, not however that it will be destroyed, that we who are renewed may dwell in a renewed world without taste of sorrow; according as it is said, "When Thou lettest Thy breath go forth, they shall be made, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth;" God henceforth providing for the due temperature of that which surrounds it. For as the earth is to exist after the present age, there must be by all means inhabitants for it, who shall no longer be liable to death, nor shall marry, nor beget children, but live in all happiness, like the angels, without change or decay.
And this I know, not as being a prophet, but as already seeing the beginning of this very evil. For some from among the Gentiles have rejected my legal preaching, attaching themselves to certain lawless and trifling preaching of the man who is my enemy. …
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." For nothing in the nature of corporeal things is more enduring than heaven and earth, and nothing in nature passes as quickly as speech. For words, as long as they are incomplete, are not words; but when they have been completed, they no longer exist at all, because they cannot be completed except by passing away. Therefore he says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." As if he were saying openly: Everything that is enduring among you is not enduring unto eternity without change; and everything that is seen to pass away in me is held fixed and without passing away, because my speech which passes away expresses judgments that remain without mutability.
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
The Lord says: take courage, the generation of the faithful shall not pass away nor shall it fail. Sooner shall heaven and earth, those seemingly unshakable elements, pass away than My words fail to be fulfilled in anything, for all that I have said shall …
(ubi sup.) The heaven which shall pass away is not the ethereal or starry heaven, but the heaven where is the air. For wheresoever the water of the judgment could reach, there also, according to the words of the blessed Peter, the fire of judgment shall reach. (2 Pet. 3) But the heaven and the earth shall pass away in that form which they now have, but in their essence they shall last without end.
For the immoveable elements shall first fail, before the words of Christ fail; wherefore it is added, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
52 ), which he could not be said to do, if the human nature of Christ did necessarily know all things by virtue of its union with the divinity." Dr. Lightfoot explains it thus; Christ calls himself the Son, as Messiah. Now the Messiah, as such, was the father's servant ( Isa. xlii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+odd-straight-quotes
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
This part of our Lord's prophecy on the Mount of Olives is entirely unfulfilled. The events described in it are all yet to take place. They may possibly take place in our own day. The passage therefore is one which we ought always to read with peculiar interest. Let us observe, in the first place, what solemn majesty will attend our Lord Jesus Christ's second coming to this world . The language that is used about the sun, moon, and stars, conveys the idea of some universal convulsion of the universe at the close of the present dispensation.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away--the strongest possible expression of the divine authority by which He spake; not as Moses or Paul might have said of their own inspiration, for such language would be unsuitable in any merely human mouth. Warnings to Prepare for the Coming of Christ Suggested by the Foregoing Prophecy (Mr 13:32-37).
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
This part of our Lord's prophecy on the Mount of Olives is entirely unfulfilled. The events described in it are all yet to take place. They may possibly take place in our own day. The passage therefore is one which we ought always to read with peculiar interest. Let us observe, in the first place, what solemn majesty will attend our Lord Jesus Christ's second coming to this world . The language that is used about the sun, moon, and stars, conveys the idea of some universal convulsion of the universe at the close of the present dispensation. It reminds us of the apostle Peter's words, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." (2 Pet.3:10.) At such a time as this, amid terror and confusion, exceeding all that even earthquakes or hurricanes are known to produce, men "shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." The second coming of Christ shall be utterly unlike the first. He came the first time in weakness, a tender infant, born of a poor woman in the manger at Bethlehem, unnoticed, unhonored, and scarcely known. He shall come the second time in royal dignity, with the armies of heaven around Him, to be known, recognized, and feared by all the tribes of the earth. He came the first time to suffer — to bear our sins — to be reckoned a curse — to be despised, rejected, unjustly condemned, and slain. He shall come the second time to reign — to put down every enemy beneath His feet — to take the kingdoms of this world for His inheritance — to rule them with righteousness — to judge all men, and to live for evermore. How vast the difference! How mighty the contrast! How startling the comparison between the second advent and the first! How solemn the thoughts that the subject ought to stir up in our minds! Here are comforting thoughts for Christ's friends. Their own King will soon be here.
The words behind it
13 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | The | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| οὐρανὸς | ouranos | heaven | G3772 → | 272 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γῆ | ge | earth | G1093 → | 248 times |
| παρελεύσονται, | pareleusontai | will pass away, | G3928 → | 29 times |
| οἱ | hoi | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | but | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| λόγοι | logoi | the words | G3056 → | 329 times |
| μου | mou | of Mine | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| οὐ | ou | certainly | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| παρελεύσονται.¶ | pareleusontai | will pass away. | G3928 → | 29 times |
ὁThe
hoG3588 →19766 times
οὐρανὸςheaven
ouranosG3772 →272 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
γῆearth
geG1093 →248 times
παρελεύσονται,will pass away,
pareleusontaiG3928 →29 times
οἱ<the>
hoiG3588 →19766 times
δὲbut
deG1161 →2765 times
λόγοιthe words
logoiG3056 →329 times
μουof Mine
mouG3165 →1936 times
οὐcertainly
ouG3756 →1664 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
παρελεύσονται.¶will pass away.
pareleusontaiG3928 →29 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- 1 Peter 1:25
but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 5:18
For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Isaiah 55:11
so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
- Isaiah 40:8
Through
Isaiah 40:8The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
it leads to
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 119:89–91
Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.
- Matthew 24:35
Through
Matthew 5:18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
it leads to
- Luke 16:17
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
- Luke 16:17
Where this verse is studied
About Mark
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.4.192; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 1; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Methodius of Olympus, Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection; Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 5.22; Pseudo-Clement, Clementine Homilies, Introductory Epistles; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark and Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.