For wherever the carcass is, there is where the vultures gather together.
Parallel translations
- KJV For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
- BSB Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
- NKJV For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
- NASB Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
- NLT Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.
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
Where the carcass is, the vultures gather. This proverb signals that judgment will fall surely and unmistakably where it is due.
Overview
Like vultures inevitably drawn to a body, judgment will surely come where conditions warrant it. The saying reinforces that Christ's coming and the accompanying judgment will be evident and certain, not hidden. It assures believers of God's sure justice and the unmistakable nature of the day to come.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Luke 17:37They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there will the vultures also be gathered together.”
- Job 39:27–30Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
- Amos 9:1–4I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
- Deut 28:49Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you will not understand;
- Jer 16:16“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
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 24:28 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.