Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.
- KJV Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
- NKJV Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
- NASB Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house.
- NLT A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack.
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
The one on the housetop must not go down to grab possessions. It stresses the extreme urgency of flight.
Overview
Flight must be so immediate that there is no time even to retrieve belongings from the house. The picture conveys the suddenness and severity of the coming danger. It teaches that when judgment comes, earthly possessions must not delay obedience to Christ's warning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Luke 17:31–33On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind.
- Mark 13:15–16Let no one on the housetop go back inside to retrieve anything from his house.
- Matt 10:27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.
- Acts 10:9The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
- Luke 12:3What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.
- Luke 5:19but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
- Deut 22:8If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
- 1 Sam 9:25And after they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof of his house.
- Matt 6:25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Prov 6:4–5Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.
- Job 2:4“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
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 24:17 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.