But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.
Parallel translations
- WEB But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.
- KJV And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
- BSB But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
- NKJV And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.
- NASB But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
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
Though a new era has come, not the smallest detail of God's law will fail. The law retains its authority.
Overview
Jesus guards against thinking the kingdom abolishes the law. Heaven and earth will pass before the least stroke of it falls; it is fulfilled, not discarded, in Christ. This affirms the enduring validity of God's moral standards, which Jesus upholds and perfectly satisfies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Matt 5:18For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
- Luke 21:33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
- 1 Pet 1:25but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.
- Rom 3:31Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Isa 40:8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
- Isa 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment; and its inhabitants will die in the same way: but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
- Ps 102:25–27Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
- Rev 21:1I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
- Rev 21:4He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
- Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- 2 Pet 3:10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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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 16:17 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.