Luke 17:37

And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	Καὶ Kai	G2532	and · conjunction
answered	ἀποκριθέντες apokrithentes	G611	to conclude for oneself · verb — aorist passive deponent participle, nominative plural masculine
said	λέγουσιν legousin	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural
him	αὐτῷ· autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Where	ποῦ, pou	G4226	as adverb of place · adverb — interrogative
Lord	κύριε; kurie	G2962	supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
said	εἶπεν eipen	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
them	αὐτοῖς· autois	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Wheresoever	ὅπου hopou	G3699	what(-ever) where · conjunction
the body	σῶμα, sōma	G4983	the body (as a sound whole) · noun — nominative singular neuter
thither	ἐκεῖ ekei	G1563	there · adverb
will	συνάγω synágō	G4863	to lead together
the eagles	ἀετοὶ aetoi	G105	an eagle (from its wind-like flight) · noun — nominative plural masculine
be gathered together	συνάγω synágō	G4863	to lead together

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Job 39:29-30 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
Zechariah 13:8-9 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left the…
Revelation 19:17-18 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and ga…
Amos 9:1-4 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all o…
Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and h…
Daniel 9:26-27 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy…
1 Thessalonians 2:16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermo…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 17:20–end

We have here a discourse of Christ's concerning the kingdom of God, that is, the kingdom of the Messiah, which was now shortly to be set up, and of which there was great expectation. I. Here is the demand of the Pharisees concerning it, which occasioned this discourse. They asked when the kingdom of God should come, forming a notion of it as a temporal kingdom, which should advance the Jewish nation above the nations of the earth. They were impatient to hear some tidings of its approach; they understood, perhaps, that Christ had taught his disciples to pray for the coming of it, and they had long preached that it was at hand. "Now," say the Pharisees, "when will that glorious view open? When…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 17:37

Where--shall this occur? Wheresoever, &c.--"As birds of prey scent out the carrion, so wherever is found a mass of incurable moral and spiritual corruption, there will be seen alighting the ministers of divine judgment," a proverbial saying terrifically verified at the destruction of Jerusalem, and many times since, though its most tremendous illustration will be at the world's final day. Next: Luke Chapter 18

Adam Clarke on Luke 17:37

Where, Lord? - In what place shall all these dreadful evils fall? The answer our Lord gives in a figure, the application of which they are to make themselves. Where the dead carcass is, there will be the birds of prey - where the sin is, there will the punishment be. See on Mat 24:28 (note). Thither will the eagles (or vultures) be gathered together. The jackal or chakal is a devourer of dead bodies; and the vulture is not less so: it is very remarkable how suddenly these birds appear after the death of an animal in the open field, though a single one may not have been seen on the spot for a long period before. The following chapter seems to be a continuation of this discourse: at least it i…

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John Gill on Luke 17:37

The Church Fathers

Our Lord was asked two questions, where the good should be taken up, and where the bad left; He gave only one answer, and left the other to be understood, saying, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
— Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

When He said that some should be taken up, the disciples not unprofitably inquire, 'Where, Lord?' As if He said, As when a dead body is thrown away, all the birds which feed on human flesh flock to it, so when the Son of man shall come, all the eagles, that is, the saints, shall haste to meet Him.
— Cyril of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Or by the eagles feeding on the dead animals, he has here described the rulers of the world, and those who shall at that time persecute the saints of God, in whose power are left all those who are unworthy of being taken up, who are called the body or carcase. Or by the eagles are meant the avenging powers which shall fly about to torment the wicked.
— Eusebius of Caesarea ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Banner — (1.) The flag or banner of the larger kind, serving for three tribes marching together. These standards, of which there were four, were worked with embroidery and beautifully ornamented (Num. 1:52;…
Eagle — (Herb. nesher; properly the griffon vulture or great vulture, so called from its tearing its prey with its beak), referred to for its swiftness of flight (Deut. 28:49; 2 Sam. 1:23), its mounting high…

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Luke 17:37

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 17:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 17:37

Adam Clarke on Luke 17:37

John Gill on Luke 17:37

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Luke 17:37

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 17:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 17:37

Adam Clarke on Luke 17:37

John Gill on Luke 17:37

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Luke 17:26–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Luke 17:37