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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.
- Eccl 10:20Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
- Matt 12:36I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
- Eccl 10:12–13The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips.
- Jude 1:14–15About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
- Job 24:14–15The murderer rises with the light. He kills 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.