Luke 21:11

There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, along with fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples on the Mount of Olives, describing the sequence of events that will precede the end times. He situates these natural and cosmic disturbances between predictions of geopolitical conflict and personal persecution.

The words — σεισμοὶ (seismoi) refers to localized earth-shaking events, while λιμοί (limoi) denotes widespread food shortages. The phrase κατὰ τόπους (kata topous) specifies that these calamities will strike scattered, distinct locations rather than a single unified region.

The thread — This sequence of escalating natural and celestial disturbances appears in Matthew 24:29 and Luke 21:25 as markers of divine intervention. The gospel accounts consistently link these phenomena to a period of unprecedented cosmic and earthly upheaval.

Why it lands — The verse demands sober vigilance by cataloging specific catastrophic events that signal a fixed divine timeline. It requires readers to recognize these occurrences as predetermined markers rather than random disasters.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

σεισμοίseismoiEarthquakes τεteboth μεγάλοιmegaloigreat καὶkaiand κατὰkatain different τόπουςtopousplaces λιμοὶlimoifamines καὶkaiand λοιμοὶloimoipestilences ἔσονται,esontaithere will be,φόβητράphobētrafearful sights τεtealso καὶkaiand ἀπ᾽ap᾽from οὐρανοῦouranouheaven σημεῖαsēmeiasigns μεγάλαmegalagreat ἔσται.¶estaiwill there be.

King James Version

And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Cross-references

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
Luke 21:25 There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.