When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Parallel translations
- WEB When I was with you in the temple daily, you didn’t stretch out your hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
- KJV When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
- BSB Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on Me. But this hour belongs to you and to the power of darkness.”
- NASB While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”
- NLT Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”
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 notes they never seized Him in the temple, but says this is their hour and the power of darkness. He acknowledges that evil is permitted its appointed time.
Overview
Jesus recognizes that His enemies act now under cover of darkness, both literal and spiritual. He affirms that Satan and wicked men are given a limited hour to do their worst. Yet by submitting to this hour, Jesus turns the power of darkness into the very means of its defeat at the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Eph 6:12For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- Acts 26:18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
- John 12:27“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But for this cause I came to this time.
- John 16:20–22Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
- Col 1:13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
- John 7:45The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
- 2 Cor 4:3–6Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish;
- Matt 21:23When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
- Judg 16:21–30The Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he ground at the mill in the prison.
- John 14:30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
- Matt 21:12–15Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.
- Rev 12:9–12The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- John 7:25–26Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill?
- John 7:30They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- Matt 21:45–46When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.
- Luke 21:37–38Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet.
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 22:53 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.