Yet not even a hair of your head will perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB And not a hair of your head will perish.
- KJV But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
- NKJV But not a hair of your head shall be lost.
- NASB And yet not a hair of your head will perish.
- NLT But not a hair of your head will perish!
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
Despite persecution, not a hair of their head will perish, for they are kept in God's care.
Overview
Though some believers will be killed, Jesus assures that ultimately nothing of them will be truly lost. This is a promise of God's preserving care and final salvation, not of escape from all physical harm. Their lives are secure in God's hands even through death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Matt 10:30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
- 1 Sam 14:45But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
- Luke 12:7And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
- Acts 27:34So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”
- 2 Sam 14:11“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
- 1 Sam 25:29And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
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 21:18 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.