but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Parallel Translations
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but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
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and the chyldren of the kyngdome shalbe cast out in to vtter darcknes: there shalbe wepinge and gnasshing of tethe.
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And the children of the kingdome shall be cast out into vtter darkenes: there shalbe weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Matthew 8:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 25:30 Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Luke 13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside.
- Matthew 21:43 “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.
- Matthew 13:42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 13:50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
- Matthew 24:51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
- Matthew 22:12-13 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’
- Matthew 3:9-10 Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- 2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Jude 1:13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Matthew 7:22-23 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
- Acts 3:25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.’
- Romans 9:4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;
- 2 Peter 2:4 For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;
- Matthew 13:38 the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which are without the kingdom: For in the kingdom…
Which are without the kingdom: For in the kingdom is light, and without the kingdom darkness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be…
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Ver. 12. But the children of the kingdom] Those that had made a covenant with God by sacrifice, Psa 50:5; and therefore held their heads on high, as already destined to the diadem. Lo, these, in the height of their hopes and expectancies, shall be excluded; a foul and fearful disappointment. Surely the tears of hell cannot sufficiently bewail the loss of heaven. John of Valois was son, brother, uncle, father to a king, yet himself never was a king; so here.
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Into outer darkness] Into a darkness beyond a darkness; into a dungeon beyond and beneath the prison. In tenebras ex tenebris, infeliciter exclusi, infelicius excludendi, saith Augustine. God shall surely say to these unhappy children of the kingdom, when he casts them into condemnation, as Aulus Fulvius said to his traitorous son when he slew him with his own hands, Non Catiline te genui sed patriae. I begat you not to be a Catiline but a patriot. I called you not but to glory and virtue, neither to glory but by virtue, 2Pe 1:3. As you liked not the latter, so never look for the former. Every man is either a king or a captive; and shall either reign with Christ, or rue it for ever with the devil. {a} Aut Caesar aut nullus, Either Caesar or nothing, as he said to his mother: and as those in the Turk’s court, that are born of the blood royal, but come not to the kingdom; they must die either by the sword or halter; so here.
{a} Omnis homo aut est cum Christo regnaturus, aut cum diabolo cruciandus. Aug.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Jesus said unto the centurion,.... Christ having finished…
And Jesus said unto the centurion,.... Christ having finished the digression, returns an answer to the centurion, agreeably to his desire, saying to him,
go thy way; not as displeased with him, but as granting his request: for it follows,
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and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. As he had faith to believe, that Christ could cure his servant by a word speaking, it was done accordingly. Christ by his almighty "fiat" said, let him be healed, and he was healed: just as God in the creation said, "let there be light, and there was light". He does not say according to thy prayer, or according to thy righteousness, and goodness, but according to thy faith: and it is further to be observed, that this cure was wrought, not so much for the sake of the servant, as his master; and therefore Christ says, "be it done unto thee"; let him be healed for thy sake, and restored unto thee, to thy use, profit, and advantage.
And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour, at the very exact time, even in that moment. Some copies add, "and when the centurion returned to his house, in the selfsame hour he found his servant healed"; which the Ethiopic version has, and it agrees with Luk 7:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The outer darkness - Our Lord here alludes to…
The outer darkness - Our Lord here alludes to the custom the ancients had of making their feast in the night time. Probably while he was speaking this, the centurion came in person. Matt. xiii, 42, 50; xxii, 13; xxiv, 51; xxv, 30.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Shall be cast out into outer darkness]…
Verse 12. Shall be cast out into outer darkness] As the enjoyment of that salvation which Jesus Christ calls the kingdom of heaven is here represented under the notion of a nuptial festival, at which the guests sat down in a reclining posture, with the master of the feast; so the state of those who were excluded from the banquet is represented as deep darkness; because the nuptial solemnities took place at night. Hence, at those suppers, the house of reception was filled with lights called δαδεςλαμπαδεςλυκνειαφανοι, torches, lamps, candles, and lanthorns, by Athenaeus and Plutarch: so they who were admitted to the banquet had the benefit of the light; but they who were shut out were in darkness, called here outer darkness, i.e. the darkness on the outside of the house in which the guests were; which must appear more abundantly gloomy, when compared with the profusion of light within the guest-chamber. And because they who were shut out were not only exposed to shame, but also to hunger and cold; therefore it is added, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As these feasts are often alluded to by the evangelists, I would observe, once for all:-that they who were invited to them entered by a gate designed to receive them; whence Christ, by whom we enter into the marriage feast, compares himself to a gate, Joh 10:1-2; Joh 10:7; Joh 10:9. This gate, at the time the guests were to come, was made narrow, the wicket only being left open, and the porter standing there, that they who were not bidden to the marriage might not rush into it. Hence Christ exhorts the Jews to enter in at the strait gate, Mt 7:13, c. When all that were invited were once come, the door was presently shut, and was not to be opened to any who came too late, and stood knocking without so after the wise virgins had entered with the bridegroom, the gate was shut, and was not opened to the foolish virgins, who stood knocking without, Mt 25:11. And in this sense we are to understand the words of Christ, Lu 13:24-25. Many shall seek to enter in, but shall not be able. Why? because the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door; they would not come to him when they might, and now the day of probation is ended, and they must be judged according to the deeds done in the body. See Whitby on the place. How many of those who are called Christians suffer the kingdom, the graces, and the salvation which they had in their hands, to be lost; while West-India negroes, American Indians, Hindoo polytheists, and atheistic Hottentots obtain salvation! An eternity of darkness, fears, and pains, for comparatively a moment of sensual gratification, how terrible the thought! What outer darkness, or το σκοτος το εξωτερον, that darkness, that which is outermost, may refer to, in eternal damnation, is hard to say: what it alludes to I have already mentioned: but as the words βρυγμος των οδοντων, gnashing or CHATTERING of teeth, convey the idea, not only of extreme anguish, but of extreme cold; some have imagined that the punishment of the damned consists in sudden transitions from extreme heat to extreme cold; the extremes of both I have found to produce exactly the same sensation.
MILTON happily describes this in the following inimitable verses, which a man can scarcely read, even at midsummer, without shivering.
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Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, heat with perpetual storms
Of whirlwind and dire hail--------
-------- the parching air
Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire.
Thither by harpy-footed furies haled,
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice,
-------- and there to pine
Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round
Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.
Parad. Lost, book ii. line 586.
There is a passage in the Vulgate, Job 24:19, that might have helped Milton to this idea. Ad nimium calorem transeat ab aquis nivium. "Let him pass to excessive heat, from waters of snow." This reading, which is found only in this form in the Vulgate, is vastly expressive. Every body knows that snow water feels colder than snow itself, even when both are of the same temperature, viz. 32, because the human body, when in contact with snow water, cools quicker than when in contact with snow. Another of our poets has given us a most terrible description of perdition on the same ground.
The once pamper'd spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
This pendant world; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts
Imagine--------
Similar to this is that dreadful description of the torments of the wicked given in the Institutes of Menu: "The wicked shall have a sensation of agony in Tamisra, or utter darkness, and in other seats of horror; in Asipatrauana, or the sword-leaved forest, and in different places of binding fast, and of rending: multifarious tortures await them: they shall be mangled by ravens and owls, and shall swallow cakes boiling hot, and shall walk over inflamed sands, and shall feel the pangs of being baked like the vessels of a potter: they shall assume the forms of beasts continually miserable, and suffer alternate afflictions from extremities of cold and heat; surrounded with terrors of various kinds. They shall have old age without resource; diseases attended with anguish; pangs of innumerable sorts, and, lastly, unconquerable death."
Institutes of MENU, chap. 12. Inst. 75-80.
In the Zend Avesta, the place of wicked spirits is termed, "The places of darkness, the germs of the thickest darkness." An uncommonly significant expression: Darkness has its birth there: there are its seeds and buds, there it vegetates everlastingly, and its eternal fruit is - darkness!
See Zend Avesta, vol. i. Vendidad sadi, Fargard. xviii. p. 412.
And is this, or, any thing as bad as this, HELL? Yes, and worse than the worst of all that has already been mentioned. Hear Christ himself. There their worm dieth not, and the fire is NOT QUENCHED! Great God! save the reader from this damnation!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The children of the kingdom - That is, the…
The children of the kingdom - That is, the children, or the people, who “expected the kingdom,” or to whom it properly belonged; or, in other words, the Jews. they supposed themselves to be the special favorites of heaven. They thought that the Messiah would enlarge their nation and spread the triumphs of their kingdom. They called themselves, therefore, the children or the members of the kingdom of God, to the exclusion of the Gentiles. Our Saviour used the manner of speech to which they were accustomed, and said that “many of the pagans would be saved, and many Jews lost.
Shall be cast out into outer darkness ... - This is an image of future punishment. It is not improbable that the image was taken from Roman dungeons or prisons. They were commonly constructed under ground. They were shut out from the light of the sun. They were, of course, damp, dark, and unhealthy, and probably most filthy. Masters were in the habit of constructing such prisons for their slaves, where the unhappy prisoner, without light, or company, or comfort, spent his days and nights in weeping from grief, and in vainly gnashing his teeth from indignation. The image expresses the fact that the wicked who are lost will be shut out from the light of heaven, and from peace, and joy, and hope; will weep in hopeless grief, and will gnash their teeth in indignation against God, and complain against his justice. What a striking image of future woe! Go to a damp, dark, solitary, and squalid dungeon; see a miserable and enraged victim; add to his sufferings the idea of eternity, and then remember that this, after all, is but an image, a faint image, of hell! Compare the notes at Mat 22:13.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Whilst the Jews, who glory in descending from the…
Whilst the Jews, who glory in descending from the patriarchs, and who, on this title, are children and heirs of the celestial kingdom which had been promised them, shall be excluded for having rendered themselves unworthy by their unbelief. (Bible de Vence) --- Shall be cast out into exterior darkness. This is spoken so as to imply a comparison to a supper in a great room, with a number of lights, when they who are turned out in the night, stand without, starving, weeping, and gnashing their teeth. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. Children of the kingdom — Natural Jews. The…
12. Children of the kingdom — Natural Jews. The kingdom of heaven, that is, the Gospel dispensation, including the kingdom of glory as well as of grace, is represented as a divine banquet, in which, while the Jews, the natural children of the kingdom, are excluded, the repentant Gentiles take their couches with Abraham and the other ancestral patriarchs. The heirship by faith is substituted for the heirship by birth, and the spiritual guests are the true children of Abraham.
Outer darkness — The figure of a banquet is carried out. The splendour, the joy, the society, the feast within, are an emblem of God’s kingdom below and above. The darkness of the streets without is an emblem of deep horror. The streets of Eastern cities are narrow and filthy; all the outdoor comfort being reserved for the court or square yard enclosed within the area of the building. At night they are totally dark, being unillumined even by rays from a window. Robbers and ferocious dogs render them dangerous. We have thence a strong image of that utter despair, darkness, and death of a soul excluded from God, and left to weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. outer darkness] i. e. the darkness outside the…
12. outer darkness] i. e. the darkness outside the house in which the banquet is going on.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) The children of the kingdom.—The form of the…
(12) The children of the kingdom.—The form of the phrase is a Hebraism, indicating, as in “the children of the bride-chamber,” those who belonged to the kingdom, i.e., in this case, the Israelites, to whom the kingdom of heaven had, in the first instance, been promised, the natural heirs who had forfeited their inheritance.
Into outer darkness.—Strictly, the outer darkness. The words continue the imagery of the previous clause, the darkness outside the king’s palace being contrasted with the interior, blazing with lamps and torches.
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There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.—Both words in the Greek have the emphasis of the article, “the weeping” par excellence. The two words are found in combination six times in St. Matthew, and once in St. Luke (Luk_13:28). In their literal meaning they express that intensest form of human anguish in which it ceases to be articulate. The latter word, or rather the cognate verb, is used also to express rage (Act_7:54). Their spiritual meaning we naturally connect with the misery of those who are excluded from the joy and blessedness of the completed kingdom, and that is, doubtless, what they ultimately point to. We must remember, however, that the “kingdom of heaven” was a term of very varying significance, and that our Lord had proclaimed that that kingdom was at hand, and taught men, by parable and otherwise, that it included more than the life after death. We may accordingly rightly look for like “springing and germinant accomplishments” of the words now before us. Men came “from the east and west,” when the Gentiles were admitted into the Church of Christ. The children of the kingdom were left in the “outer darkness” when they were self-excluded from fellowship with that Church and its work among the nations. The outbursts of envy and rage recorded in the Acts (Act_5:33; Act_13:45) illustrate this aspect of “the weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 12. But the children of the kingdom. The Jews,…
12. But the children of the kingdom. The Jews, the natural children of Abraham, the “Father of the faithful,” heirs of the promises made to him. Cast out. Because they rejected the Messiah, in whom all the promises center. Into outer darkness. The history of the Jews for 1,800 years has been a fulfillment of this passage. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a hint at the wretchedness of a future state of punishment.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.