For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
Parallel translations
- WEB For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
- BSB For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- NKJV For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
- NASB For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- NLT For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
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 asked, if such things are done to the green tree, what will happen to the dry. If the innocent suffers so, the guilty face far worse.
Overview
This proverbial saying contrasts the green (living, innocent) tree with the dry (dead, guilty) one. If God permits the righteous Jesus to suffer crucifixion, the judgment awaiting impenitent Jerusalem will be far more severe. The verse underscores the gravity of sin and the certainty of judgment for those who refuse the One who suffered for them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Pet 4:17–18For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
- John 15:6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Prov 11:31Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
- Ezek 20:47–48And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
- Ezek 15:2–7Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Matt 3:12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
- Ezek 21:3–4And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
- Jer 25:29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Heb 6:8But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
- Dan 9:26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
- Jude 1:12These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 23:31 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.