“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!
Parallel translations
- WEB “I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.
- KJV I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
- BSB I have come to ignite a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
- NKJV “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
- NLT “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!
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
Jesus says He came to cast fire on the earth and wishes it were already kindled. He speaks of the purifying, dividing crisis His coming brings.
Overview
The 'fire' likely pictures the refining judgment and division that Christ's mission ignites, separating those who receive Him from those who reject Him. His longing for it to be kindled shows His resolve to accomplish His saving and sifting work. This fire is inseparable from the cross, the baptism He must undergo to bring it about.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mal 4:1“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Mal 3:2–3“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;
- Luke 12:51–52Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.
- Matt 3:10–12“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Isa 11:4but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
- Joel 2:30–31I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
- John 9:4I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
- Luke 13:31–33On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, “Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you.”
- John 12:17–19The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it.
- Luke 19:39–40Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
- Luke 11:53–54As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
- John 11:8–10The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 12:49 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.