Then Jesus declared, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Parallel translations
- WEB But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”
- KJV And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
- NKJV But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
- NASB But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
- NLT But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
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 says no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for God's kingdom. Genuine discipleship requires undivided, forward-looking commitment.
Overview
Using the image of plowing, Jesus teaches that looking back ruins the work and reveals a divided heart. Kingdom service demands steady, single-minded devotion that does not cling to what is left behind. The call to follow Christ is total, leaving no room for half-hearted allegiance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Phil 3:13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
- Heb 10:38But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- 2 Pet 2:20–22If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.
- Luke 17:31–32On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind.
- Jas 1:6–8But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
- Ps 78:8–9Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
- Acts 15:37–38Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark.
- 2 Tim 4:10because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
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 9:62 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
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