Devine Scripture

Luke 17:29

What does Luke 17:29 mean?

A plain-English look at Luke 17:29 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Luke 17:29 means

On the very day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all. Deliverance for the righteous and judgment for the ungodly occurred in swift sequence. The timing underscores the urgency of obedience; lingering would have been fatal. The nature of the judgment—fiery and total—reminds us that God’s holiness opposes entrenched evil. The verse does not gloat over destruction but soberly warns that divine patience ends and justice acts. Lot’s exit becomes a picture of God’s preserving mercy, while the city’s fate shows the peril of hearts set against Him.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all:

KJV

King James Version · 1611

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all:

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

But on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down from heaven and destruction came on them all.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and on the day Lot went forth from Sodom, He rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed all.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven, and destroyed all [of them]:

Context

This description follows the catalogue of ordinary activities in Lot’s day (verse 28) and climaxes the historical example. Jesus is building toward an application: just so will it be when the Son of man is revealed (verse 30). The next verses shift from illustration to instruction, urging decisive detachment from possessions and places when the day arrives (verse 31) and pointing to Lot’s wife as a negative example (verse 32).

v.28Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

v.29This passage

v.30after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Matthew 11:23

    And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day.

  • Jeremiah 50:40

    As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

  • Amos 4:11

    I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

  • Jude 1:7

    Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

  • Genesis 19:16

    But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

  • Zephaniah 2:9

    Therefore as I live, saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall make a prey of them, and the remnant of my nation shall inherit them.

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