“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt?
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?
- KJV And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
- BSB “Why are you troubled,” Jesus asked, “and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
- NKJV And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
- NASB And He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why are doubts arising in your hearts?
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 asks why they are troubled and why doubts fill their hearts. He gently addresses their fear before offering proof of his bodily presence.
Overview
Reading their hearts, Jesus questions the trouble and doubt that grip them. His words are pastoral, inviting them to move past fear toward faith. By naming their inner turmoil, he prepares them to receive the tangible evidence of his risen body that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Dan 4:19Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered, My lord, the dream be to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries.
- Matt 16:8Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 24:38 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.