No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
- KJV I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
- BSB No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
- NKJV I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
- NASB No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
- NLT Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Every person needs repentance to escape coming judgment.
Overview
Rather than explaining the victims' fate, Jesus turns the warning back on His hearers: all are sinners facing judgment apart from repentance. The point is universal human need, not the comparative guilt of those who died. This urgent call to repent points to the salvation God offers in Christ, the only refuge from perishing eternally.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Matt 3:2“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
- Acts 2:38–40Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Rev 2:21–22I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
- Luke 13:5I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
- Luke 23:28–30But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
- Luke 21:22–24For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
- Matt 12:45Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”
- 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.
- Luke 24:47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
- Matt 23:35–38that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
- Matt 22:7When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
- Luke 19:42–44saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
- Matt 24:21–29for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 13:3 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.