Bible Strands
Mark 14:38
Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to Peter and the other disciples in Gethsemane, having returned from prayer to find them asleep (Mark 14:37).
The words — γρηγορεῖτε (grēgoreite), "do watch," is a present imperative demanding sustained alertness, not a one-time act. πειρασμόν (peirasmon), "temptation," names the specific testing they are warned against.
The thread — Matthew 26:41 carries the identical words; Matthew 24:42 and Luke 21:36 extend the "watch" command to the broader context of the Lord's return and coming tribulation.
Why it lands — It names the gap between intention and capacity ("the spirit is willing, but the body is weak") and prescribes the remedy: sustained vigilance paired with prayer, not willpower alone.
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
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Cross-references
- Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
- Matthew 24:42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.
- Luke 21:36 So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Luke 22:40 When He came to the place, He told them, “Pray that you will not enter into temptation.”
- Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
- Revelation 3:2 Wake up and strengthen what remains, which is about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God.
- Luke 22:46 “Why are you sleeping?” He asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not enter into temptation.”
- Galatians 5:17 For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
- Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
- Mark 14:34 Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”