Mark 13:33

You don’t know what time God will do these things, so you have to always be ready and keep on remembering everything I told you, like you have to stay awake and keep on looking out for me.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

In Context

32Then Jesus said, “I’m telling you straight. Nobody knows the time when God will do these things. Nobody knows what day it will be, or what the time will be on the clock. God’s angel messengers in heaven don’t know. Even I don’t know. My father in heaven is the only one that knows.

34Listen to this picture story. A man wanted to go to stay in another place for a while, so he told his workers to look after everything at his house while he was away. He told each one of them to do their own jobs. He said to the guard at the gate, ‘Keep looking out to see me coming back.’

Read all of Mark 13

Cross References

Mark 13:35Those workers didn’t know what time that boss was going to come home. He might come after the sun goes down, or he might come in the middle of the night, or he might come as the birds call out in the morning, or he might come back after the sun comes up. So those workers have to be ready all the time. You are like those workers in that picture story, and I am like that boss. You don’t know what time I will come back here, and you have to be ready for me all the time. So you have to keep on looking out for me, like that guard at the gate has to keep on looking out. Don’t get lazy.

Romans 13:11And here is another thing to think about. You know that Jesus will come back soon and save us from the bad things that are going on. There is not much time left. It is closer now than it was at the time when we first believed in him. It’s like it’s night time now, but Jesus will come back soon, so it is like the day-light will come soon. It’s like it’s time for us to wake up from sleep. We have to stop doing the bad things that people do in the dark. Instead, we have to do the good things that people do in the light.

1 Corinthians 16:13Now I want to tell you this. You have to always be ready for anything. It’s like you have to stay awake and keep on watching what is going on. Never stop believing in God. Always be brave, and be strong in your spirits.

Matthew Henry on Mark 13:29-37

Watchfulness Inculcated. 28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: 29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. 30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Mark 13:33