Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Parallel translations
- WEB Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
- BSB Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
- NKJV Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
- NASB Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.
- NLT Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Recalling that a servant is not greater than his master, Jesus says those who persecuted Him will persecute the disciples too. Followers share their Lord's treatment.
Overview
Jesus applies a saying He used earlier: disciples cannot expect better treatment than their master received. As the world persecuted Jesus, it will persecute His followers, though some will heed their word as some heeded His. This sets realistic expectations for ministry, mingling the certainty of opposition with the hope that the message will still be received by some.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- 2 Tim 3:12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
- John 13:16Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
- Matt 10:24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
- Ezek 3:7But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
- 1 Cor 4:12And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
- 2 Cor 4:9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
- John 8:51Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
- Acts 4:27–30For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
- Luke 6:40The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
- John 10:31Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
- 1 Th 2:15Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
- Isa 53:1–3Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
- John 7:32The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
- John 8:59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
- Acts 7:52–60Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
- John 5:16And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
- 1 Sam 8:7And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
- Luke 2:34And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
- John 11:57Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 15:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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