Matthew 24:42

Matthew 24:42
(KJV) Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
(1611 KJV) Watch therfore, for ye know not what houre your Lord doth come.
(1587 Geneva) Watch therefore: for ye knowe not what houre your master will come.
(1526 Tyndale) Wake therfore because ye knowe not what houre youre master wyll come.
(1384 Wycliffe) Therfor wake ye, for ye witen not in what our the Lord schal come.

Counterfeit Versions
(1881 RV) Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
(1901 ASV) Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
(AMP) Watch therefore [give strict attention, be cautious and active], for you do not know in what kind of a day [whether a near or remote one] your Lord is coming.
(CEB) Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know what day the Lord is coming.
(CEV) So be on your guard! You don’t know when your Lord will come.

(CSB) Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

(ERV) “So always be ready. You don’t know the day your Lord will come.
(ESV) Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
(GNB) Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come.
(HCSB) Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
(JB PHILLIPS) That is why you must always be ready, for you do not know what time the Son of Man will arrive.”
(THE MESSAGE) Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
(NASV) “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
(NCV) “So always be ready, because you don’t know the day your Lord will come.
(NIRV) “So keep watch. You do not know on what day your Lord will come.
(NIV) “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
(NLV) “Because of this, watch! You do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
(NLT) So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
(RSV) Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
(2010 NAB-Roman Catholic) Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
(NWT-Jehovah’s Witnesses) Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
γρηγορειτε ουν οτι ουκ οιδατε ποια ωρα ο κυριος υμων ερχεται

Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
γρηγορειτε ουν οτι ουκ οιδατε ποια ημερα ο κυριος υμων ερχεται

Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
D 05 - Bezae Cantabrigiensis - Fifth century
Delta 037 - Ninth century
Theta 038 - Ninth century
33 (Minuscule) - Ninth Century

Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
K 017 - Ninth century
L 019 - Seventh century
Gamma 036 - Ninth or Tenth century
700 - (Minuscule) Eleventh century

Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Reads “day” instead of “hour”
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902

Affected Teaching
The Lord Jesus is going to return at a very specific time and obviously it will be a day. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is narrowing the time frame by stating “hour” instead of “day.” This would cause Christians to be ready every hour of the day and not just in a generic time period of 24 hours. The word “hour” also fits the context of the portion of Scripture. Verses 40 & 41 speak about people working which would be in hours and not days. In verse 43, Jesus speaks about the “watch” in which there were four watches in the night. Verse 44 speaks about being ready in an “hour” when ye think not the Son of man cometh. The hour means that both the believer and the unbeliever will not have any advance warning beyond “be ready” when the Lord will return. (2 Pet 3:10 KJV) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Once again the modern versions break context and distort the flow of truth.

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