Bible Strands
Luke 6:26
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples at the close of the Sermon on the Plain, delivering the fourth and final "woe" before pivoting to the command to love enemies (Luke 6:27).
The words — kalōs (καλῶς), "well," is the hinge: the verse's claim is that universal human approval is the signature of false prophets, not of the faithful. Ouai (οὐαί), "woe," frames the entire series as a reversal of expected blessing.
The thread — John 15:19 states the principle directly: the world loves its own and hates those who are not of it. James 4:4 sharpens it into a binary — friendship with the world is enmity toward God. Matthew 7:15 supplies the portrait of the false prophet who comes in sheep's clothing.
Why it lands — It removes popularity from the list of evidence that one is right with God. If everyone speaks well of you, the question is not "Am I doing well?" but "Am I a false prophet?"
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
King James Version
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Cross-references
- John 15:19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- James 4:4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- 1 John 4:5 They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.
- Micah 2:11 If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Isaiah 30:10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
- 2 Peter 2:1 Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
- 2 Peter 2:18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?