Mark 13:33
What does Mark 13:33 mean?
A plain-English look at Mark 13:33 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Mark 13:33 means
Given the unknowable exact time of His return, Jesus issued a direct command: "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is." This triple injunction emphasizes the active and ongoing spiritual posture required of believers. "Take heed" means to be attentive and aware, "watch" implies constant readiness and vigilance, and "pray" signifies a reliance on God's strength and guidance. This instruction summarizes the practical response to the uncertainty of His timing, calling for a life of expectant faithfulness.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Take care, keep watch with prayer: for you are not certain when the time will be.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Take heed, watch and pray, for ye have not known when the time is;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Take heed, watch and pray, for ye do not know when the time is:
Context
This verse introduces Jesus' climactic exhortation to watchfulness, flowing logically from the declaration that no one knows the day or hour (v. 32). It provides the practical, direct command for how believers should live in light of that uncertainty. This call to vigilance, watching, and prayer then leads into a parable that illustrates this imperative using a master and his servants, providing a vivid example for the disciples to internalize.
v.32But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
v.33This passage
v.34It is as when a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Revelation 3:2
Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before my God.
- Mark 13:23
But take ye heed: behold, I have told you all things beforehand.
- Matthew 24:42
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
- Luke 12:40
Be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.
- Luke 21:34
But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5
for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;
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