Limitless Word
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
Matthew 24:35 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
  • KJV Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
  • BSB Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
  • NASB Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
  • NLT Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

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

Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus' words will never pass away. His words carry the permanence and authority of God himself.

Overview

Jesus places his own teaching above the created order in durability, a claim only fitting for one who is divine. The visible universe is temporary, but the word of the Son endures forever, like the word of the Lord in the prophets. This grounds the certainty of every promise and warning in the discourse. Believers can stake their lives on words that outlast the cosmos.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Isa 40:8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
  • 1 Pet 1:25but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.
  • Num 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?
  • Isa 55:11so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
  • Matt 5:18For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
  • Prov 30:5“Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
  • Isa 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment; and its inhabitants will die in the same way: but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.
  • Isa 54:10For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
  • Ps 89:34I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.
  • Titus 1:2in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
  • Ps 102:26They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
  • 2 Pet 3:7–12But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
  • Heb 1:11–12They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does.
  • Ps 19:7Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
  • Jer 31:35–36Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name, says:
  • Rev 3:14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:
  • Rev 6:14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
  • Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
  • Isa 34:4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 24:35YouTube · 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 24:35 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.