So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Parallel translations
- WEB So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- BSB So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous,
- NKJV So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
- NASB So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come forth and remove the wicked from among the righteous,
- NLT That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous,
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
At the end of the world angels will separate the wicked from the righteous. Final judgment will distinguish people by their true standing before God.
Overview
Jesus interprets the dragnet: at the consummation of the age, angels will come to separate the wicked from the righteous. This parallels the harvest of the weeds and underscores the certainty of a coming judgment carried out by God's appointed agents. The verse calls hearers to examine where they truly stand before that day arrives.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Rev 20:12–15And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Matt 13:39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
- Matt 24:31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
- 2 Th 1:7–10And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
- Matt 22:12–14And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
- Matt 25:5–12While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
- Matt 25:19–33After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:49 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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