What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
- KJV Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
- NKJV Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
- NASB Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
- NLT Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!
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
Whatever is said in darkness or whispered privately will be proclaimed publicly. God's coming exposure of all things should shape how we speak and live.
Overview
Jesus presses home that secrecy offers no permanent cover; God will bring even private words into the open. This calls believers to consistency between their public and private lives, since nothing escapes God's notice. The verse underscores both accountability before a holy God and the assurance that hidden faithfulness is never lost on Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Matt 10:27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.
- Eccl 10:20Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your words, and a winged creature may report your speech.
- Matt 12:36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
- Eccl 10:12–13The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.
- Jude 1:14–15Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones
- Job 24:14–15When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.
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 12:3 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.