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;
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:
- BSB When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to 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.
- 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 deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
- Acts 4:5–7In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem.
- Luke 21:12–14But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
- Luke 12:22He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.
- Matt 23:34Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
- Mark 13:9–11But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them.
- Acts 6:9–15But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.
- Acts 5:27–32When they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest questioned 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.