Mark 13:8
in Mark 13Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, as well as famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be earthquakes in divers places; there shall be famines: these things are the beginning of travail.
KJV
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
⋯
This verse in Mark 13
Commentary
14 notes on this verseFor nation shall rise against nation,.... The nations of the world one against another, and the Romans against the Jews, and the Jews against them: and kingdom against kingdom; which is a synonymous phrase with the former, and what the Jews call, מלות שונות, "different words", expressing the same thing, often used in their commentaries: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places; of the world: and there shall be famines: especially in Judea, as in the times of Claudius Caesar, and at the siege of Jerusalem: and troubles; public ones of various sorts, as tumults, seditions, murders, &c.
This site's exposition
wars and rumours of wars
on Mark 13:7-8
Wars and rumours of wars are named and immediately defused, be ye not troubled, for such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet, a correction against reading every calamity as the final sign. Nation against nation, earthquakes, and famines are called the beginnings of sorrows, the Greek word for birth pains, an image of process rather than arrival, pains that increase and multiply on the way to a delivery still ahead. The bench reads this as Jesus lowering the temperature on premature alarm while still telling his disciples plainly what lies on the road.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Epist. cxcix. 9.) In answer to the disciples, the Lord tells them of things which were from that time forth to have their course; whether He meant the destruction of Jerusalem which occasioned their question, or His own coming through the Church, (in which He ever comes even unto the end, for we know that He comes in His own, when His members are born day by day,) or the end itself, in which He will appear to judge the quick and the dead.
Just as bodies become sick before their death if they do not suffer violence from without, and in all cases the way of separation of soul from body comes through weakness, so it happens with the whole course of the world creation. When the creation begins to decay, having as it has both beginning and end, it must grow weak before its dissolution. At this point the earth may be frequently shaken with earthquakes. The air having received some diseased contagion may become overrun with pestilence.
The Medieval Church3 voices
What follows shows that God fought against the Jews, for it is said, And there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines.
The final tribulation is preceded by many tribulations, and through the frequent evils that come before, the perpetual evils that will follow are indicated. And therefore after wars and seditions the end does not come immediately, because many evils must run before, so that they may be able to announce evil without end. But since so many signs of disturbance have been mentioned, we ought to touch briefly upon the consideration of each one, because it is necessary that we suffer some things from heaven, some from earth, some from the elements, some from men. For he says: "Nation will rise against nation"—behold the disturbance of men; "there will be great earthquakes in various places"—behold the look of wrath from above; "there will be pestilences"—behold the disorder of bodies; "there will be famine"—behold the barrenness of the earth. Because therefore all things are to be brought to an end, before the end all things are disturbed; and we who have sinned in all things are struck in all things.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines. These are the beginnings of sorrows. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written: And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
It goes on: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (ubi sup.) Now it is on record that this literally took place at the time of the Jewish rebellion. But kingdom against kingdom, the pestilence of those whose word spreads as a canker, dearth of the word of God, the commotion of the whole earth, and the separation from the true faith, may all rather be understood of heretics who, by fighting one against the other, bring about the triumph of the Church.
And it was not wars alone, but also other God-sent punishments — famine and earthquakes — which clearly showed the Jews that God Himself was waging war against them. Yet all this was only "the beginning of sorrows," that is, of the calamities that awaited …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Christ was born into the world when there was a general peace, but soon after he went out of the world there were general wars; Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And what will become of them then who are to preach the gospel to every nation?
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
The chapter we have now begun is full of prophecy — prophecy of which part has been fulfilled, and part remains to be accomplished. Two great events form the subject of this prophecy. One is the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent end of the Jewish dispensation. The other is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the winding up of the state of things under which we now live. The destruction of Jerusalem was an event which happened only forty years after our Lord was crucified.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
These are the beginnings of sorrows--"of travail-pangs," to which heavy calamities are compared. The annals of TACITUS tell us how the Roman world was convulsed, before the destruction of Jerusalem, by rival claimants of the imperial purple.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The chapter we have now begun is full of prophecy — prophecy of which part has been fulfilled, and part remains to be accomplished. Two great events form the subject of this prophecy. One is the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent end of the Jewish dispensation. The other is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the winding up of the state of things under which we now live. The destruction of Jerusalem was an event which happened only forty years after our Lord was crucified. The second coming of Christ is an event which is yet to come, and we may yet live to see it with our own eyes. Chapters like this ought to be deeply interesting to every true Christian. No history ought to receive so much of our attention as the past and future history of the Church of Christ. The rise and fall of worldly empires are events of comparatively small importance in the sight of God. Babylon, and Greece, and Rome, and France, and England, are as nothing in His eyes by the side of the mystical body of Christ. The march of armies and the victories of conquerors are mere trifles in comparison with the progress of the Gospel, and the final triumph of the Prince of Peace. May we remember this in reading prophetical Scripture! "Blessed is he that reads." (Rev. 1:3.) The first thing that demands our attention in the verses before us, is the prediction of our Lord concerning the temple at Jerusalem . The disciples, with the natural pride of Jews, had called their Master's attention to the architectural splendor of the temple. "See," they said, "what massive stones and what buildings are here!" They received an answer from the Lord very different from what they expected, a heart-saddening answer, and one well calculated to stir up inquisitive thoughts in their minds. No word of admiration falls from His lips.
The beginnings - For αρχαι, many MSS. and versions have αρχη, the beginning, singular.
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐγερθήσεται | egerthesetai | Will rise up | G1453 → | 142 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| ἔθνος | ethnos | nation | G1484 → | 161 times |
| ἐπ᾽ | ep᾽ | against | G1909 → | 883 times |
| ἔθνος | ethnos | nation | G1484 → | 161 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| βασιλεία | basileia | kingdom | G932 → | 162 times |
| ἐπὶ | epi | against | G1909 → | 883 times |
| βασιλείαν· | basileian | kingdom; | G932 → | 162 times |
| ἔσονται | esontai | There will be | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| σεισμοὶ | seismoi | earthquakes | G4578 → | |
| κατὰ | kata | throughout | G2596 → | 468 times |
| τόπους· | topous | places; | G5117 → | 94 times |
| ἔσονται | esontai | there will be | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| λιμοί | limoi | famines | G3042 → | |
| ἀρχὴ | arche | [The] beginning | G746 → | 55 times |
| ὠδίνων | odinon | of birth pains [are] | G5604 → | |
| ταῦτα.¶ | tauta | these. | G3778 → | 1381 times |
ἐγερθήσεταιWill rise up
egerthesetaiG1453 →142 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
ἔθνοςnation
ethnosG1484 →161 times
ἐπ᾽against
ep᾽G1909 →883 times
ἔθνοςnation
ethnosG1484 →161 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
βασιλείαkingdom
basileiaG932 →162 times
ἐπὶagainst
epiG1909 →883 times
βασιλείαν·kingdom;
basileianG932 →162 times
ἔσονταιThere will be
esontaiG1510 →2333 times
σεισμοὶearthquakes
seismoiG4578 →
κατὰthroughout
kataG2596 →468 times
τόπους·places;
topousG5117 →94 times
ἔσονταιthere will be
esontaiG1510 →2333 times
λιμοίfamines
limoiG3042 →
ἀρχὴ[The] beginning
archeG746 →55 times
ὠδίνωνof birth pains [are]
odinonG5604 →
ταῦτα.¶these.
tautaG3778 →1381 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
1 Thessalonians 5:3While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
it leads to
- Luke 21:34–35
But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- Matthew 24:37–39
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
- Luke 17:26–30
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man:
- Revelation 18:7–8
As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow…
- Luke 21:34–35
Through
Isaiah 37:3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
it leads to
- Hosea 13:13
Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 66:9
Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.
- Hosea 13:13
Through
Matthew 24:8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- 1 Peter 4:17–18
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 35; 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; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 34; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.