Luke 16:17
New International Version
It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

New Living Translation
But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.

English Standard Version
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Berean Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

Berean Literal Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

King James Bible
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

New King James Version
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

New American Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

NASB 1995
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

NASB 1977
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

Legacy Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

Amplified Bible
Yet it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a letter of the Law to fail and become void.

Christian Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.

American Standard Version
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“But it is easier for Heaven and earth to pass away than for one symbol of The Law to pass away.”

Contemporary English Version
Heaven and earth will disappear before the smallest letter of the Law does.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fall.

English Revised Version
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
It is easier for the earth and the heavens to disappear than to drop a comma from Moses' Teachings.

Good News Translation
But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to be done away with.

International Standard Version
However, it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for one stroke of a letter in the Law to be dropped.

Literal Standard Version
and it is easier for the heaven and the earth to pass away, than one tittle to fall of the Law.

Majority Standard Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

New American Bible
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.

NET Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void.

New Revised Standard Version
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.

New Heart English Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the Law to become void.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Weymouth New Testament
But it is easier for earth and sky to pass away than for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.

World English Bible
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.

Young's Literal Translation
and it is easier to the heaven and the earth to pass away, than of the law one tittle to fall.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Law and the Prophets
16The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. 18Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.…

Cross References
Matthew 5:18
For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Luke 21:33
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.


Treasury of Scripture

And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one pronunciation mark of the law to fail.

it.

Luke 21:33
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

Psalm 102:25-27
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands…

Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

than.

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

1 Peter 1:25
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

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Detail Disappear Dot Drop Dropped Earth Easier End Fail Fall Ground Heaven Law Pen Sky Smallest Stroke Tiny Tittle Void
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Detail Disappear Dot Drop Dropped Earth Easier End Fail Fall Ground Heaven Law Pen Sky Smallest Stroke Tiny Tittle Void
Luke 16
1. The parable of the unjust steward.
14. Jesus reproves the hypocrisy of the covetous Pharisees.
19. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar.














(17) It is easier for heaven and earth to pass.--See Notes on Matthew 5:18. Our first impression on reading the words here is that there is less logical sequence in their position. They seem unconnected with the teaching as to the mammon of unrighteousness. It is possible that here, as elsewhere, some links of the chain have been dropped; but the explanation that has been given of the preceding parable gives a sufficient connection. The scribes and Pharisees had been tampering with the sacredness of the laws which are not of to-day or yesterday--fixed as the everlasting hills--and they are told that their casuistry cannot set aside the claims of those laws in any single instance, such, e.g., as that which immediately follows.

Verse 17. - And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the Law to fail. "Yet think not," went on the Master, "that, though things are changing, the Divine Law will ever fail. The mere temporary and transitory regulations will, of course, give place to a new order, but not the smallest part of one letter of the Divine moral Law will fail." "One tittle." This is the rendering of a Greek word the diminutive of "horn," which denoted the horn or extremity of a Hebrew letter, by the omission or addition of which - to give an instance - the letter d becomes the letter r; thus with the horn it is ד, daleth, d; without the horn ר, resh, r. The heresiarch Marcion (second century) here, in his recension of St. Luke, changes the text thus: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of my sayings to fail." Marcion, who refused fallow the Divine origin of any part of the Old Testament, was afraid of the testimony which this assertion of our Lord would give to the Divine authority of the Pentateuch. In illustration of his saying that the moral Law given to the Jews was changeless, and while earth endured would never fail, the Master instances one grave chapter of the Law with which there had been much tampering-that of divorce. "See," he said, "the new state of things which I am now teaching, instead of loosening the cords with which the old Law regulated human society, will rather tighten them. Instead of a laxer code being substituted, I am preaching a yet severer one. My law of divorce is a severer one than that written down by Moses."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
But
δέ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

it is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

easier for
εὐκοπώτερον (eukopōteron)
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular - Comparative
Strong's 2123: Easier. Comparative of a compound of eu and kopos; better for toil, i.e. More facile.

heaven
οὐρανὸν (ouranon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3772: Perhaps from the same as oros; the sky; by extension, heaven; by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

earth
γῆν (gēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1093: Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe.

to pass away
παρελθεῖν (parelthein)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 3928: From para and erchomai; to come near or aside, i.e. To approach, go by, perish or neglect, avert.

than for
(ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

a single
μίαν (mian)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.

stroke of a pen
κεραίαν (keraian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2762: Feminine of a presumed derivative of the base of keras; something horn-like, i.e. the apex of a Hebrew letter.

to drop out
πεσεῖν (pesein)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 4098: A reduplicated and contracted form of peto; probably akin to petomai through the idea of alighting; to fall.

of the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Law.
νόμου (nomou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551: From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.


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NT Gospels: Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven (Luke Lu Lk)
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