Luke 23:31

For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

BSB

For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

KJV

For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

ASV

For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

BBE

For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will they do when it is dry?

Original Greek

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The early church

(Mor. 12. c. 4) He has called Himself the green wood and us the dry, for He has in Himself the life and strength of the Divine nature; but we who are mere men are called the dry wood.
Gregory the Dialogist · d. 604Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
It follows, But if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
Or as if He spake to all: If I who have done no sin being called the tree of life, do not depart from the world without suffering the fire of my Passion, what torment think ye awaits those who are barren of all fruits?
Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
As though He said to the Jews, If then the Romans have so raged against Me, a fruit-bearing and ever flourishing tree, what will they not attempt against you the people, who are a dry tree, destitute of every lifegiving virtue, and bearing no fruit?
Theophylact of Ohrid · d. 1107Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 26–31

We have here the blessed Jesus, the Lamb of God, led as a lamb to the slaughter, to the sacrifice. Though many reproached and reviled him, yet some pitied him. But the death of Christ was his victory and triumph over his enemies: it was our deliverance, the purchase of eternal life for us. Therefore weep not for him, but let us weep for our own sins, and the sins of our children, which caused his death; and weep for fear of the miseries we shall bring upon ourselves, if we slight his love, and reject his grace. If God delivered him up to such sufferings as these, because he was made a sacrifice for sin, what will he do with sinners themselves, who make themselves a dry tree, a corrupt and wicked generation, and good for nothing! The bitter sufferings of our Lord Jesus should make us stand in awe of the justice of God. The best saints, compared with Christ, are dry trees; if he suffer, why may not they expect to suffer? And what then shall the damnation of sinners be! Even the sufferings of Christ preach terror to obstinate transgressors.

Read Matthew Henry on Luke 23 →

Cross-references

11

Topics

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