Bible Strands
Matthew 10:27
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to his twelve disciples during his final commissioning address, directly following his warning in Matthew 10:26 about hidden things being revealed and preceding his command in Matthew 10:28 to fear God rather than human persecutors.
The words — The Greek εἴπατε (eipate) carries the literal sense of "do speak" or "proclaim," functioning as an imperative that shifts the command from private instruction to public declaration.
The thread — This public proclamation motif echoes Acts 5:20, where believers are told to stand in the temple courts and speak the full message of new life, and aligns with John 16:13, where the Spirit of truth guides the apostles into all truth for their witness.
Why it lands — The text demands that private revelation be converted into public testimony without concealment or hesitation, requiring the reader to obey the command to proclaim what has been taught rather than hoarding it out of fear.
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
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Cross-references
- Acts 5:20 “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
- John 16:13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
- John 16:1 “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
- Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street, she lifts her voice in the square;
- Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?
- Matthew 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
- Matthew 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable.
- Luke 8:10 He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
- John 16:29 His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures of speech.
- John 16:25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.