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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,
Matthew 13:49 · New Living Translation
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,
  • KJV So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
  • 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,

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 20:12–15I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
  • Matt 13:39The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
  • Matt 24:31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
  • 2 Th 1:7–10and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
  • Matt 22:12–14and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless.
  • Matt 25:5–12Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
  • Matt 25:19–33“Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reconciled accounts with them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Matthew videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Matthew 13:49YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MatthewMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 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

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.