“So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.
Parallel translations
- WEB Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
- KJV Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
- BSB Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
- NKJV “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
- NASB Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.
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
Therefore watch, because you know neither the day nor the hour. The parable's lesson is constant readiness for Christ's coming.
Overview
Jesus states the parable's point plainly: since the timing is unknown, be continually prepared. Watching here means cultivating genuine faith and faithful living now, not last-minute scrambling. The unknown hour is meant to keep disciples spiritually awake in every season. It ties the wedding parable directly to the theme of the whole discourse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Matt 24:42–44Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
- Rev 16:15“Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.”
- 1 Th 5:6so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.
- Luke 21:36Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- 1 Cor 16:13Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!
- Mark 13:33–37Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.
- 1 Pet 5:8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Matt 24:50the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
- 2 Tim 4:5But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
- 1 Pet 4:7But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
- Acts 20:31Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 25:13 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.