Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
For	γὰρ gar	G1063	properly · conjunction
verily	ἀμὴν amēn	G281	properly · interjection — Hebrew
I say	λέγω legō	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
unto you	ὑμῖν hymîn	G5213	to (with or by) you
Till	ἕως he'ōs	G2193	a conjunction · preposition
heaven	οὐρανὸς ouranos	G3772	the sky · noun — nominative singular masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
earth	γῆ, gē	G1093	soil · noun — nominative singular feminine
pass	παρέλθῃ parelthē	G3928	to come near or aside · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
one	ἓν hen	G1520	one · adjective — nominative singular neuter
jot	ἰῶτα iōta	G2503	"iota" · noun — nominative singular neuter
or	ἢ ē	G2228	disjunctive · conjunction
one	μία mia	G1520	one · adjective — nominative singular feminine
tittle	κεραία keraia	G2762	something horn-like · noun — nominative singular feminine
shall	παρέλθῃ parelthē	G3928	to come near or aside · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
in no	οὐ ou	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
wise	μὴ mē	G3361	(adverb) not · particle — negative
pass	παρέρχομαι parérchomai	G3928	to come near or aside
from	ἀπὸ apo	G575	"off · preposition
the law	νόμου nomou	G3551	law (through the idea of prescriptive usage) · noun — genitive singular masculine
till	ἕως he'ōs	G2193	a conjunction · preposition
all	πάντα panta	G3956	all · adjective — nominative plural neuter
be fulfilled	γένηται.¶ genētai	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 3rd person singular

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

Luke 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Psalms 119:89-90 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Matthew 24:34-35 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old…
Mark 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 5:17-20

Those to whom Christ preached, and for whose use he gave these instructions to his disciples, were such as in their religion had an eye, 1. To the scriptures of the Old Testament as their rule, and therein Christ here shows them they were in the right: 2. To the scribes and the Pharisees as their example, and therein Christ here shows them they were in the wrong; for, I. The rule which Christ came to establish exactly agreed with the scriptures of the Old Testament, here called the law and the prophets. The prophets were commentators upon the law, and both together made up that rule of faith and practice which Christ found upon the throne in the Jewish church, and here he keeps it on the thr…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you--Here, for the first time, does that august expression occur in our Lord's recorded teaching, with which we have grown so familiar as hardly to reflect on its full import. It is the expression manifestly, of supreme legislative authority; and as the subject in connection with which it is uttered is the Moral Law, no higher claim to an authority strictly divine could be advanced. For when we observe how jealously Jehovah asserts it as His exclusive prerogative to give law to men (Lev 18:1-5; Lev 19:37; Lev 26:1-4, Lev 26:13-16, &c.), such language as this of our Lord will appear totally unsuitable, and indeed abhorrent, from any creature lips. When the Baptist's word…

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John Gill on Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you,.... Or "I Amen say unto you", which is one of the names of Christ; see Revelation 3:14 or the word "Amen" is only used by Christ as an asseveration of what he was about to say; and which, for greater confirmation, is usually doubled in the Evangelist John, "Amen, Amen", or "verily, verily". The word is used by the Jews (w) for an oath; they swore by it; and it is a rule with them, that whoever answers "Amen" after an oath, it is all one as if he had pronounced the oath itself. The thing so strongly affirmed in this solemn manner is, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The "or jot", in the Gre…

The Church Fathers

From the expression here used pass, we may suppose that the constituting elements of heaven and earth shall not be annihilated.
— Hilary of Poitiers ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

He fitly mentions the Greek iota, and not the Hebrew jod, because the iota stands in Greek for the number ten, and so there is an allusion to the Decalogue of which the Gospel is the point and perfection.
— Rabanus Maurus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Amen is a Hebrew word, and may be rendered in Latin, 'vere,' 'fidenter,' or 'fiat;' that is, 'truly,' 'faithfully,' or 'so be it.' The Lord uses it either because of the hardness of heart of those who were slow to believe, or to attract more particularly the attention of those that did believe. But shall abide in their essence, but pass through renewal.
— Remigius of Rheims ((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

Decalogue — The name given by the Greek fathers to the ten commandments; “the ten words,” as the original is more literally rendered (Ex. 20:3-17). These commandments were at first written on two stone slabs…
Jot — Or Iota, the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, used metaphorically or proverbially for the smallest thing (Matt. 5:18); or it may be = yod, which is the smallest of the Hebrew letters.
Law — A rule of action. (1.) The Law of Nature is the will of God as to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law binds all…
Pentateuch — The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions…
Sermon on the mount — After spending a night in solemn meditation and prayer in the lonely mountain-range to the west of the Lake of Galilee (Luke 6:12), on the following morning our Lord called to him his disciples, and…
Tittle — A point, (Matt. 5:18; Luke 16:17), the minute point or stroke added to some letters of the Hebrew alphabet to distinguish them from others which they resemble; hence, the very least point.
Judaism · .To make room for the Gospel — .To make room for the Gospel
Law Of God, The · Is absolute and perpetual — Is absolute and perpetual
Law Of Moses, The · Christ: Came not to destroy but to fulfil — Christ: Came not to destroy but to fulfil
Religion · TRUE — TRUE
Sabbath, The · Observance of, to be perpetual — Observance of, to be perpetual

Matthew 5:18

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 5:17-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 5:18

John Gill on Matthew 5:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Matthew 5:18

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 5:17-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 5:18

John Gill on Matthew 5:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Matthew 5:17-19

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 5:17