When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say.
Parallel translations
- WEB When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;
- KJV And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
- NKJV “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
- NASB Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say;
- NLT “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say,
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
When dragged before authorities, do not be anxious about how to defend yourselves. Christ frees His witnesses from fearful worry under persecution.
Overview
Anticipating the trials His followers will face, Jesus tells them not to be consumed with anxiety over their defense. This is not a license for laziness but an assurance that God will provide in the moment of need. It encourages bold, trusting witness rather than fearful self-protection when believers are called to account for their faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 10:17–20But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.
- Acts 4:5–7The next day the rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
- Luke 21:12–14But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. On account of My name they will deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors.
- Luke 12:22Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
- Matt 23:34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.
- Mark 13:9–11So be on your guard. You will be delivered over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On My account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
- Acts 6:9–15But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen,
- Acts 5:27–32They brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, where the high priest interrogated them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:11 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.