For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
Parallel translations
- KJV For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
- BSB Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?
- NKJV For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it —
- NASB For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
- NLT “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?
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 asks who builds a tower without first counting the cost. Following Him calls for sober, deliberate commitment.
Overview
The builder who sits down to calculate before building illustrates wise forethought. Jesus urges would-be disciples to consider seriously what allegiance to Him entails. Discipleship is not entered thoughtlessly but with clear-eyed reckoning of its demands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 24:27Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.
- Matt 10:22You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
- Josh 24:19–24Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.
- Luke 14:33So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
- Matt 20:22–23But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to him, “We are able.”
- Matt 8:20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Acts 21:13Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- 1 Th 3:4–5For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know.
- Gen 11:4–9They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”
- 2 Pet 1:13–14I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you;
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 14:28 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.