But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow 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.”
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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 don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
- Heb 10:38But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
- 2 Pet 2:20–22For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
- Luke 17:31–32In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.
- Jas 1:6–8But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
- Ps 78:8–9and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Acts 15:37–38Barnabas planned to take John, who was called Mark, with them also.
- 2 Tim 4:10for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens 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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