“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
Parallel translations
- WEB As it was in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
- KJV And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
- BSB Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man:
- NKJV And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
- NASB And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man:
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
The Son of Man's coming will resemble Noah's days, when people lived heedlessly until judgment fell. Ordinary life will mask impending judgment.
Overview
Jesus draws on the flood narrative to warn of sudden judgment overtaking the spiritually unprepared. The point is not that daily activities are evil but that people ignored God and were caught unaware. The analogy presses readers to live ready, watchful for Christ's return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 24:37–39“As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
- Luke 17:24for as the lightning, when it flashes out of the one part under the sky, shines to the other part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.
- Gen 7:7–23Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters.
- Luke 17:22He said to the disciples, “The days will come, when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
- Heb 11:7By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
- 1 Pet 3:19–20in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,
- 2 Pet 2:5and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;
- Gen 6:5Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
- Job 22:15–18Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
- 2 Pet 3:6by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
- Gen 6:7Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground — man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky — for I am sorry that I have made them.”
- Luke 18:8I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 17:26 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.