How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?”
Parallel translations
- KJV But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
- BSB But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
- NKJV How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”
- NASB How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
- NLT But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
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
Jesus asks how the Scriptures would be fulfilled if He resisted. He submits to arrest in order to fulfill God's revealed plan.
Overview
Jesus explains that His suffering is the fulfillment of Scripture and therefore must happen as appointed. His commitment to the written word governs even His response to betrayal and arrest. The verse shows that the cross is not a tragic accident but the deliberate accomplishment of God's prophetic plan of redemption.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Zech 13:7“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- Matt 26:24The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
- Luke 24:25–26He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- Acts 1:16“Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.
- Isa 53:1–12Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
- John 10:35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),
- Ps 22:1–31For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Luke 24:44–46He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
- Ps 69:1–36For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
- Dan 9:24–26Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
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 26:54 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.