Matthew 24:20

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
But	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
pray ye	προσεύχεσθε proseuchesthe	G4336	to pray to God · verb — present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural
that	ἵνα ina	G2443	compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
your	ὑμῶν hymōn	G5216	of (from or concerning) you
flight	φυγὴ phugē	G5437	a fleeing · noun — nominative singular feminine
be	γένηται genētai	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 3rd person singular
not	μὴ mē	G3361	(adverb) not · particle — negative
in the winter	χειμῶνος cheimōnos	G5494	akin to the base of 5490 through the idea of a channel) · noun — genitive singular masculine
neither	μηδὲ mēde	G3366	but not · conjunction — negative
on	ἐν en	G1722	"in
the sabbath day	σαββάτῳ. sabbatō	G4521	the Sabbath (i.e. Shabbath) · noun — dative singular neuter

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

Exodus 16:29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his…
Acts 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

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

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 24:20

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,.... When days are short, and unfit for long journeys, and roads are bad, and sometimes not passable, through large snows, or floods of water; and when to dwell in desert places, and lodge in mountains, must be very uncomfortable: wherefore Christ directs to pray to God, who has the disposal of all events, and of the timing of them, that he would so order things in the course of his providence, that their flight might not be in such a season of the year, when travelling would be very difficult and troublesome. Dr. Lightfoot observes, from a Jewish writer (h), that it is remarked as a favour of God in the destruction of the first temple, that…

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John Calvin on Matthew 24:15-28

Matthew 24:15-28 Matthew 24:15-28 Mark 13:14-23 Luke 21:20-24 15. When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which is described by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let him that readeth understand,) 16. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17. Let not him who is on the housetop go down to carry anything out of his house; 18. And let not him who is in the field return to carry away his clothes. 19. But woe to the women with child, and to them that give suck in those days. 20. And pray that your flight may not be in the winter, nor on the sabbath. [134] 21. For there will then be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 24:20

Josephus records the winter swelling of the Jordan River, which made it more difficult to cross (see Josephus, War 4.7.5). Muddy roads also made travel difficult in winter. • Normally Jews did not travel on the Sabbath in order to rest as God had commanded (see Gen 2:1-3; Exod 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:12-17; Lev 23:3; Deut 5:12-15; Jer 17:19-27).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

And as speaking to Jews who thought they might travel no more upon the sabbath than a sabbath-day's journey, He adds, But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath.
— Origen of Alexandria ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Because in the one the severity of the cold prevents your flight to the deserts, and your lurking in mountains and wilds; in the other, you must either transgress the Law, if you will fly, or encounter instant death if you will stay.
— Jerome ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Or; That we be not taken in the frost of sins, or in discontinuance of good works, because of the soreness of the affliction; notwithstanding that for the sake of God's elect, those days shall be shortened, that the abridgment of the time may disarm the force of the calamities.
— Hilary of Poitiers ((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

Matthew, Gospel according to — The author of this book was beyond a doubt the Matthew, an apostle of our Lord, whose name it bears. He wrote the Gospel of Christ according to his own plans and aims, and from his own point of view,…
Olves, Mount of — So called from the olive trees with which its sides are clothed, is a mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7; Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated by the valley of…
Christ, The Prophet · Foretold things to come — Foretold things to come
Sabbath · 9:13,14;10:31;13:15-22; — 9:13,14;10:31;13:15-22;
Second Coming Of Christ, The · Signs preceding — Signs preceding
Winter · Unsuited for: Travelling — Unsuited for: Travelling

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).