And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Parallel translations
- WEB Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
- KJV And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
- BSB If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
- NKJV And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
- NLT In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.
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
Unless those days were shortened, no one would survive, but for the elect's sake they will be shortened. It shows God's mercy limiting the tribulation for his chosen people.
Overview
The distress would be so severe that life itself would be threatened, yet God in mercy shortens the days for the sake of his chosen ones. This reveals God's sovereign care to preserve his people through judgment. Even in the darkest times, the elect are kept by the One who governs all things for their good.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mark 13:20Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.
- 2 Tim 2:10Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
- 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.
- Matt 24:24For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
- Luke 18:7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- Matt 22:14For many are called, but few chosen.”
- Zech 13:8It shall happen that in all the land,” says Yahweh, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it.
- Rom 11:25–31For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
- Rom 9:11For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,
- Zech 14:2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
- Isa 65:8–9Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.
- Isa 6:13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
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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 24:22 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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