Matthew 24:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and a man in the field must not go back to get his coat.

King James Version (1611)
Neither let him which is in the field, returne backe to take his clothes.

King James Version
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

English Standard Version
and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

New American Standard Bible
"And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

New Century Version
If people are in the fields, they must not go back to get their coats.

Amplified Bible
"Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

Legacy Standard Bible
And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment.

Berean Standard Bible
And let no one in the field return for his cloak.

Contemporary English Version
If you are out in the field, don't go back for your coat.

Complete Jewish Bible
if someone is in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat.

Darby Translation
and let not him that is in the field turn back to take his garment.

Easy-to-Read Version
If they are in the field, they must not go back to get a coat.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he that is in the fielde, let not him returne backe to fetch his clothes.

George Lamsa Translation
And he who is in the field, let him not return back to take his clothes.

Good News Translation
Someone who is in the field must not go back to get a cloak.

Lexham English Bible
and the one who is in the field must not turn back to pick up his cloak.

Literal Translation
and the one in the field, let him not turn back to take his garment.

American Standard Version
and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak.

Bible in Basic English
And let not him who is in the field go back to get his coat.

Hebrew Names Version
Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.

International Standard Version
and the person who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

Etheridge Translation
nor he who is in the field turn back to take his vestment.

Murdock Translation
and let him who is in the field, not return back to take his clothing.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neither let hym which is in the fielde, returne backe to fetche his clothes.

English Revised Version
and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloke.

World English Bible
Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes.

Weymouth's New Testament
nor let him who is outside the city stay to pick up his outer garment.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
turne not ayen to take his coote.

Update Bible Version
and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak.

Webster's Bible Translation
Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes.

New English Translation
and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

New King James Version
And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

New Living Translation
A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat.

New Life Bible
The man who is in the field should not go back to get his coat.

New Revised Standard
the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, he that is in the field, let him not turn back, to take away his mantle.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.

Revised Standard Version
and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Nether let him which is in ye felde returne backe to fetche his clothes.

Young's Literal Translation
and he in the field -- let him not turn back to take his garments.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and let him which is in ye felde, not turne back to fetch his clothes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
if any man be in the field, let him not return back to take his coat.

Simplified Cowboy Version
If you're muckin' out stalls, don't go back in and change boots.

Contextual Overview

⁴Jesus said, "Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.' They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming. ⁹"They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other's throat, everyone hating each other. ¹¹"In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes. ¹³"Staying with it—that's what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, and you'll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come. ¹⁵"But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you've read Daniel, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you're living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you're working in the yard, don't return to the house to get anything; if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won't happen during the winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹"This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God's chosen people, the trouble will be cut short. ²³"If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here's the Messiah!' or points, ‘There he is!' don't fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. But I've given you fair warning. ²⁶"So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!' or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!' don't give them the time of day. The Arrival of the Son of Man isn't something you go to see. He comes like swift lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it's not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds. ²⁹ "Following those hard times, Sun will fade out, moon cloud over, Stars fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble. ³⁰"Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he'll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God's chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 6:28 - Give thy son Proverbs 6:4 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 24:9
So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn oath.

1 Peter 3:8
Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing. Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth. God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he's asked; But he turns his back on those who do evil things.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither let him which is in the field,.... Ploughing, or sowing, or employed in any other parts of husbandry, or rural business,

return back to take clothes; for it was usual to work in the fields without their clothes, as at ploughing and sowing. Hence those words of Virgil e.

"Nudus ara, sere nudus, hyems ignava colono.''

Upon which Servius observes, that in good weather, when the sun warms the earth, men might plough and sow without their clothes: and it is reported by the historian f of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, that the messengers who were sent to him, from Minutius the consul, whom he had delivered from a siege, found him ploughing naked beyond the Tiber: not that he was entirely naked, but was stripped of his upper garments: and it is usual for people that work in the fields to strip themselves to their shirts, and lay their clothes at the corner of the field, or at the land's end; and which we must suppose to be the case here: for our Lord's meaning is not, that the man working in the field, should not return home to fetch his clothes, which were not left there; they were brought with him into the field, but put off; and laid aside in some part of it while at work; but that as soon as he had the news of Jerusalem being besieged, he should immediately make the best of his way, and flee to the mountains, as Lot was bid to do at the burning of Sodom; and he might not return to the corner of the field, or land's end, where his clothes lay, as Lot was not to look behind; though if his clothes lay in the way of his flight, he might take them up, but might not go back for them, so sudden and swift should be the desolation. The Vulgate Latin reads, in the singular number, "his coat"; and so do the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel; and so it was read in four copies of Beza's, in three of Stephens's, and in others; and may design the upper coat or garment, which was put off whilst at work.

e Georgic. l. 1. f Aurel Victor. de illustr. viris, c. 20.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Return back to take his clothes - His clothes which, in “working,” He had laid aside, or which, in fleeing, he should throw off as an encumbrance. “Clothes” here means the “outer” garment, commonly laid aside when men worked or ran. See the notes at Matthew 5:40.

These directions were followed. It is said that the Christians, warned by these predictions, fled from Jerusalem to Pella, and other places beyond the Jordan; so that there is not evidence that a single “Christian” perished in Jerusalem - Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., lib. 3 chapter 6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 24:18. Neither let him which is in the field return back — Because when once the army of the Romans sits down before the city, there shall be no more any possibility of escape, as they shall never remove till Jerusalem be destroyed.