Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- KJV Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
- NKJV Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- NASB And then He said to them, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- NLT Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.
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 gently rebukes the two for being slow to believe what the prophets had foretold. He shows that the Scriptures themselves had already announced the events they found confusing.
Overview
Rather than first revealing his identity, Jesus addresses the deeper problem: a failure to believe all that the prophets spoke. Their sorrow grew from reading the cross apart from Scripture's testimony. The rebuke is tender, aiming to lead them from despair to faith by reorienting them to God's revealed word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Mark 7:18“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,
- Mark 9:19“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”
- Heb 5:11–12We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.
- Mark 16:14Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
- Mark 8:17–18Aware of their conversation, Jesus asked them, “Why are you debating about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Do you have such hard hearts?
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 24:25 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.