You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Parallel translations
- WEB You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
- KJV Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
- NKJV “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
- NASB “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
- NLT “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
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
Disciples are the light of the world, like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. It calls believers to visible, public witness.
Overview
Jesus, who is Himself the light of the world, here calls His people to reflect that light before others. Like a hilltop city, the community of disciples is meant to be seen, not concealed. Their visible godliness bears witness to God and draws attention to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Phil 2:15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- John 8:12Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Eph 5:8–14For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- 1 Th 5:5For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
- Prov 4:18The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- John 12:36While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of light.” After Jesus had spoken these things, He went away and was hidden from them.
- Rom 2:19–20if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,
- 2 Cor 6:14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- John 5:35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
- Rev 21:14–27The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
- Rev 1:20This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
- Gen 11:4–8“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
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 5:14 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.