And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking 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.”
- BSB Then Jesus declared, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks 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 3:13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
- Heb 10:38Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
- 2 Pet 2:20–22For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
- Luke 17:31–32In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
- Jas 1:6–8But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
- Ps 78:8–9And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
- Acts 15:37–38And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
- 2 Tim 4:10For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto 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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