I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
- 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 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 3:19Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
- Matt 3:2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
- Acts 2:38–40Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Rev 2:21–22And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
- Luke 13:5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
- Luke 23:28–30But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
- Luke 21:22–24For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
- Matt 12:45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
- Matt 3:10–12And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
- Luke 24:47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
- Matt 23:35–38That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
- Matt 22:7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
- Luke 19:42–44Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- Matt 24:21–29For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall 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.