But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB And not a hair of your head will perish.
- BSB Yet not even a hair of your head will 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 10:30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
- 1 Sam 14:45And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.
- Luke 12:7But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
- Acts 27:34Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
- 2 Sam 14:11Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
- 1 Sam 25:29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of 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.