Luke 12:12
What does Luke 12:12 mean?
A plain-English look at Luke 12:12 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Luke 12:12 means
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit will teach His disciples, in that very hour, what they ought to say. This is timely, not generic, help. It ensures that faithful testimony will be God-enabled when human strength fails. The Spirit’s role is to glorify Christ and to guide believers into truth, so they need not script every defense in fear. Dependence replaces desperation. The promise dignifies even the least articulate disciple, for courage and clarity in persecution are gifts. It also reminds them that their witness is part of God’s larger work, sustained by heaven’s wisdom, not mere human strategy.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say.
KJV
King James Version · 1611For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949For the Holy Spirit will make clear to you in that very hour what to say.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that hour what it behoveth <FI>you<Fi> to say.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you must say.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the hour itself what should be said.
Context
This assurance caps the section on confessing Christ amid hostility. Having warned about eternal stakes and spiritual hardness, Jesus equips His followers with the comfort of the Spirit’s present help. The theme will now shift abruptly: a man interrupts with a property dispute. Jesus uses the moment to expose covetousness and to teach, through a parable, the folly of building life on possessions rather than on God.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 6:10
And they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.
- Acts 7:55
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
- Luke 21:15
for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay.
- Acts 26:1
And Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence:
- Matthew 10:20
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.
- Exodus 4:11
And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah?
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