Matthew 24:42
 Matthew 24:42 
New International Version (©2011)
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

New Living Translation (©2007)
"So you, too, must keep watch! For you don't know what day your Lord is coming.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Therefore be alert, since you don't know what day your Lord is coming.

International Standard Version (©2012)
"So keep on watching, because you don't know on what day your Lord is coming.

NET Bible (©2006)
"Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
Wake up therefore, for you do not know in what hour your Lord will come.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"Therefore, be alert, because you don't know on what day your Lord will return.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come.

American King James Version
Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come.

American Standard Version
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come.

Darby Bible Translation
Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes.

English Revised Version
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.

Webster's Bible Translation
Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh.

Weymouth New Testament
Be on the alert therefore, for you do not know the day on which your Lord is coming.

World English Bible
Watch therefore, for you don't know in what hour your Lord comes.

Young's Literal Translation
'Watch ye therefore, because ye have not known in what hour your Lord doth come;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:42-51 To watch for Christ's coming, is to maintain that temper of mind which we would be willing that our Lord should find us in. We know we have but a little time to live, we cannot know that we have a long time to live; much less do we know the time fixed for the judgment. Our Lord's coming will be happy to those that shall be found ready, but very dreadful to those that are not. If a man, professing to be the servant of Christ, be an unbeliever, covetous, ambitious, or a lover of pleasure, he will be cut off. Those who choose the world for their portion in this life, will have hell for their portion in the other life. May our Lord, when he cometh, pronounce us blessed, and present us to the Father, washed in his blood, purified by his Spirit, and fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.


Pulpit Commentary

Verses 42-51. - Practical exhortation drawn from the uncertainty of the last day: Watch. Verse 42. - Watch therefore. The end will be sudden, the final separation will be then completed; be ye therefore always prepared. Few exhortations are more frequently and impressively given than this of the duty and necessity of watchfulness. Of course, the Christian has to watch against many things - his own evil heart, temptation, the world, but most of all he must watch and be always looking for the coming of his Lord; for whether he be regarded as Redeemer, Deliverer, or Judge, he will come as a thief in the night. What hour. Very many good manuscripts and some late editors read "on what day." This is probably the genuine reading, "hour" being an alteration derived from ver. 44. What (ποίᾳ) means of what kind or quality - whether sudden, immediate, or remote.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Watch therefore,.... Since the time of this desolation is so uncertain, and since it will come upon the Jews unawares, and some wilt escape, whilst others perish; for the words are plainly an inference from what precedes, and clearly relate to things going before, and are not a transition to a new subject:

for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come; to avenge himself of the unbelieving Jews, and fulfil what he in person, and by his apostles, had predicted and warned them of: though I will not deny, but that what follows may be much better accommodated and applied to the second coming of Christ, and the last judgment, and the behaviour of men with regard to both, than anything said before; and it may be our Lord's intention, to lead his disciples gradually, and as it were imperceptibly, to the last scene of things on earth, to make way for the parables and description of the future judgment, in the next chapter; still keeping in view, and having reference to, the subject he had been so long upon.


Matthew 24:42 Parallel Commentaries

Matthew 24:42 NIV
Matthew 24:42 NLT
Matthew 24:42 ESV
Matthew 24:42 NASB
Matthew 24:42 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Be Ready at Any Hour
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come. 43But know this, that if the manager of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. …

Matthew 24:43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
Matthew 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Matthew 25:10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
Matthew 25:13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Mark 13:35 "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
Mark 13:37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'"
Luke 12:37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Luke 12:39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
Luke 21:34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
1 Peter 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.