Mark 13:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Mark 13:8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
a race (as of the same habit) · noun — nominative singular neuter
shall rise
ἐγερθήσεταιegerthēsetai
G1453
to waken (transitively or intransitively) · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person singular
against
ἐπ᾽ep᾽
G1909
properly · preposition
nation
ἔθνοςethnos
G1484
a race (as of the same habit) · noun — accusative singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
kingdom
βασιλείαbasileia
G932
properly · noun — nominative singular feminine
against
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
kingdom
βασιλείαν·basileian
G932
properly · noun — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
there shall be
ἔσομαιésomai
G2071
will be
earthquakes
σεισμοὶseismoi
G4578
a commotion · noun — nominative plural masculine
in
κατὰkata
G2596
(prepositionally) down (in place or time) · preposition
divers places
τόπους·topous
G5117
a spot (general in space · noun — accusative plural masculine
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
there shall be
ἔσομαιésomai
G2071
will be
famines
λιμοίlimoi
G3042
a scarcity of food · noun — nominative plural masculine
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
troubles
ταραχαί·tarachai
G5016
disturbance · noun — nominative plural feminine
these
ταῦταtaûta
G5023
these things
the beginnings
ἀρχὴarchē
G746
(properly abstract) a commencement · noun — nominative singular feminine
of sorrows
ὠδίνωνōdinōn
G5604
a pang or throe · noun — genitive plural feminine
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
Psalms 48:6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Matthew 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Isaiah 37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the…
Haggai 2:22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chario…
1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not…
Isaiah 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour;…
Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Jeremiah 13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Mark 13:5-13
Our Lord Jesus, in reply to their question, sets himself, not so much to satisfy their curiosity as to direct their consciences; leaves them still in the dark concerning the times and seasons, which the father has kept in his own power, and which it was not for them to know; but gives them the cautions which were needful, with reference to the events that should now shortly come to pass.
I. They must take heed that they be not deceived by the seducers and imposters that should now shortly arise (Mar 13:5, Mar 13:6); "Take heed lest any man deceive you, lest, having found the true Messiah, you lose him again in the crowd of pretenders, or be inveigled to embrace others in rivalship with him.…
The beginnings - For αρχαι, many MSS. and versions have αρχη, the beginning, singular.
John Gill on Mark 13:8
For nation shall rise against nation,.... The nations of the world one against another, and the Romans against the Jews, and the Jews against them:
and kingdom against kingdom; which is a synonymous phrase with the former, and what the Jews call, , "different words", expressing the same thing, often used in their commentaries:
and there shall be earthquakes in divers places; of the world:
and there shall be famines: especially in Judea, as in the times of Claudius Caesar, and at the siege of Jerusalem:
and troubles; public ones of various sorts, as tumults, seditions, murders, &c. This word is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions.
These are the beginnings of sorrows; as o…
Mark 13:1-8
Matthew 24:1-8
Mark 13:1-8
Luke 21:5-11
1. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him, to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2. And Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Verily I say to you, There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. 3. And while he was sitting on the mountain of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? and what is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4. And Jesus answering said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5. For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many. 6…
The Church Fathers
It goes on: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (ubi sup.) Now it is on record that this literally took place at the time of the Jewish rebellion. But kingdom against kingdom, the pestilence of those whose word spreads as a canker, dearth of the word of God, the commotion of the whole earth, and the separation from the true faith, may all rather be understood of heretics who, by fighting one against the other, bring about the triumph of the Church.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines. These are the beginnings of sorrows. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written: And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines (Luke 21). It is known that these things happened literally before the last and most bitter pains, by which the entire province was devastated, or rather erased, during the time of the Jewish sedition. But kingdom against kingdom, and the pestilence of those whose speech spreads like cancer, and the famine of hearing the word of God, and the upheaval of the whole earth, and the separation from the true faith, can be better understood in heretics, who, fighting against each other, bring about the victory of the Church. Moreover, the Lord reveals why so many adversities were deservedly bestowed upon Jerusalem and the whole province of the Jews, by adding when he says:
The final tribulation is preceded by many tribulations, and through the frequent evils that come before, the perpetual evils that will follow are indicated. And therefore after wars and seditions the end does not come immediately, because many evils must run before, so that they may be able to announce evil without end. But since so many signs of disturbance have been mentioned, we ought to touch briefly upon the consideration of each one, because it is necessary that we suffer some things from heaven, some from earth, some from the elements, some from men. For he says: "Nation will rise against nation"—behold the disturbance of men; "there will be great earthquakes in various places"—behold the look of wrath from above; "there will be pestilences"—behold the disorder of bodies; "there will be famine"—behold the barrenness of the earth. Because therefore all things are to be brought to an end, before the end all things are disturbed; and we who have sinned in all things are struck in all things.
Dictionary and topics
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Earthquakes · Prophecies of — Prophecies of
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).
The Greek word translated must is also used in 8:31. In both instances, God’s sovereignty over events is emphasized. • but the end won’t follow immediately: These things would occur, and just as birth pains are followed by childbirth, God’s judgment on Jerusalem would follow. However, these events did not indicate that it was going to happen right away.
