But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Parallel translations
- WEB But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
- BSB But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
- NKJV But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
- NASB But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
- NLT But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.
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
Whoever denies Christ before others, He will deny before the Father. Persistent rejection of Him carries eternal consequences.
Overview
The solemn counterpart to verse 32, this warning shows that disowning Christ before people is no light matter. It describes the settled, unrepentant denial of the unbeliever, not the momentary failure later restored, as Peter's case shows (Matt. 26:75; John 21). The verse presses the urgency of faithful allegiance to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Tim 2:12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
- Luke 9:26For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
- Luke 12:9But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
- 1 Jn 2:23Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
- 2 Pet 2:1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
- Mark 14:30And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
- Mark 8:38Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
- Mark 14:72And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
- Matt 26:70–75But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 10:33 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.