Matthew 24:42

24:42 “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day ¹  your Lord will come.

Matthew 25:13

25:13 Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour. ² 

Mark 13:33-37

13:33 Watch out! Stay alert! ³  For you do not know when the time will come. 13:34 It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves ⁴  in charge, assigning ⁵  to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert. 13:35 Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return – whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn – 13:36 or else he might find you asleep when he returns suddenly. 13:37 What I say to you I say to everyone: Stay alert!”

Mark 14:38

14:38 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Luke 21:36

21:36 But stay alert at all times, ⁶  praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that must ⁷  happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 22:40

22:40 When he came to the place, ⁸  he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁹ 

Luke 22:46

22:46 So ¹⁰  he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation!” ¹¹ 

Luke 22:1

Judas’ Decision to Betray Jesus

22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, ¹²  which is called the Passover, was approaching.

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹³ 

Ephesians 6:18

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ¹⁴  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ¹⁵  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, ¹⁶  obey your parents in the Lord ¹⁷  for this is right.

Ephesians 4:7

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 5:8

5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are ¹⁸  light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –

Revelation 16:15

16:15 (Look! I will come like a thief!

Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose ¹⁹  his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition ²⁰  be seen.) ²¹ 

[24:42]  ¹ tc Most later mss (L 0281 Ï lat) have here ὥρᾳ ({wra, “hour”) instead of ἡμέρα (Jemera, “day”). Although the merits of this reading could be argued either way, in light of the overwhelming and diverse early support for ἡμέρᾳ ({א B C D W Δ Θ Ë¹³ 33 892 1424, as well as several versions and fathers}), the more general term is surely correct.

[25:13]  ² tc Most later mss (C³ ˹³ 1424^c Ï) also read here “in which the Son of Man is coming” (ἐν ᾗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται, en |h Jo Juio" tou anqrwpou ercetai), reproducing almost verbatim the last line of Matt 24:44. The longer reading thus appears to be an explanatory expansion and should not be considered authentic. The earlier and better witnesses ({̳⁵ א A B C* D L W Δ Θ Ë¹ 33 565 892 1424* lat co}) lack this phrase.

[13:33]  ³ tc The vast majority of witnesses (א A C L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy co) have καὶ προσεύχεσθε after ἀγρυπνεῖτε (agrupneite kai proseucesqe, “stay alert and pray”). This may be a motivated reading, influenced by the similar command in Mark 14:38 where προσεύχεσθε is solidly attested, and more generally from the parallel in Luke 21:36 (though δέομαι [deomai, “ask”] is used there). As B. M. Metzger notes, it is a predictable variant that scribes would have been likely to produce independently of each other (TCGNT 95). The words are not found in B D 2427 a c {d} k. Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is slender, it probably better accounts for the longer reading than vice versa.

[13:34]  ⁴ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.

[13:34]  ⁵ tn Grk “giving.”

[21:36]  ⁶ sn The call to be alert at all times is a call to remain faithful in looking for the Lord’s return.

[21:36]  ⁷ tn For the translation of μέλλω (mellw) as “must,” see L&N 71.36.

[22:40]  ⁸ sn Luke does not mention Gethsemane by name, but calls it simply the place.

[22:40]  ⁹ sn Jesus’ instructions to pray not to fall into temptation is an allusion to Luke 22:28-38, especially 22:31. The temptation is Satan’s challenge to them to defect, like what happened to Judas and what will happen to Peter.

[22:46]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus finding them asleep.

[22:46]  ¹¹ sn Jesus calls the disciples again to prayerful watchfulness with the words “Get up and pray” (see 22:40). The time is full of danger (22:53).

[22:1]  ¹² sn The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a week long celebration that followed the day of Passover, so one name was used for both feasts (Exod 12:1-20; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1-8).

[1:13]  ¹³ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).

[6:18]  ¹⁴ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

[6:1]  ¹⁷ tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.

[5:8]  ¹⁸ tn The verb “you are” is implied in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to make it clear.

[16:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and keeps.” BDAG 1002 s.v. τηρέω 2.c states “of holding on to someth. so as not to give it up or lose it…τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ Rv 16:15 (or else he will have to go naked).”

[16:15]  ²⁰ tn On the translation of ἀσχημοσύνη (aschmosunh) as “shameful condition” see L&N 25.202. The indefinite third person plural (“and they see”) has been translated as a passive here.

[16:15]  ²¹ sn These lines are parenthetical, forming an aside to the narrative. The speaker here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself rather than the narrator. Many interpreters have seen this verse as so abrupt that it could not be an original part of the work, but the author has used such asides before (1:7; 14:13) and the suddenness here (on the eve of Armageddon) is completely parallel to Jesus’ warning in Mark 13:15-16 and parallels.