Luke 12:7

But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

BSB

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

KJV

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

ASV

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

BBE

But even the hairs of your head are numbered. Have no fear: you are of more value than a flock of sparrows.

Original Greek

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The early church

All 6
When our Lord said, "not a hair," he was not thinking of length but of the number of hairs, as we see from these words, "The hairs of your head are numbered." I still think that nothing that was a natural part of the body should be lost. Ugly outgrowths, which have the purpose of reminding us of the penal condition of mortal life, will be integrated into the substance as a whole so that no deformity will appear in any one part. After all, a human artist can make a botch of a statue and then reshape it into beauty without a loss of any of his material. It is not a matter of chiseling away some paticular part that was ugly or out of proportion. He can break down and remold the same mass of material so that nothing but the blemish disappears. Of course, the omnipotent Artist can do this even better. There is no deformity of any human body, whether normal, exceptional or even monstrous, which he cannot so eliminate as to leave the total substance intact, while the ugliness disappears. Such outgrowths are not out of place among the other miseries of temporal existence, but they are incompatible with the happiness of the saints in the life to come.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430City of God
It is His care then diligently to know the life of the saints. Whence it follows, But the hairs of your heads are all numbered; by which He means, that of all things which relate to them He has most accurate knowledge, for the numbering manifests the minuteness of the care exercised. Now mystically, indeed, the head of a man is his understanding, but his hairs the thoughts, which are open to the eye of God.
Cyril of Alexandria · d. 444Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
We must not read, Ye are more, which relates to the comparison of number, but ye are of more value, that is, of greater estimation in the sight of God.
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
Or, by the head of each of the faithful, you must understand a conversation meet for Christ, but by his hair, the works of bodily mortification which are numbered by God, and are worthy of the Divine regard.
Theophylact of Ohrid · d. 1107Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
(pluris estis) Now I ask the Arians, if God, as if disdaining to make all other things, made only His Son, but deputed all things to His Son; how is it that He extends His providence even to such trifling things as our hair, and the sparrows? For upon whatever things He exercises His providence, of these is He the Creator by His own word.
Athanasius of Alexandria · d. 373Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 1–12

A firm belief of the doctrine of God's universal providence, and the extent of it, would satisfy us when in peril, and encourage us to trust God in the way of duty. Providence takes notice of the meanest creatures, even of the sparrows, and therefore of the smallest interests of the disciples of Christ. Those who confess Christ now, shall be owned by him in the great day, before the angels of God. To deter us from denying Christ, and deserting his truths and ways, we are here assured that those who deny Christ, though they may thus save life itself, and though they may gain a kingdom by it, will be great losers at last; for Christ will not know them, will not own them, nor show them favour. But let no trembling, penitent backslider doubt of obtaining forgiveness. This is far different from the determined enmity that is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall never be forgiven, because it will never be repented of.

Read Matthew Henry on Luke 12 →

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Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.