Matthew 10:34

George Lamsa Translation

Do not expect that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

King James Version (1611)
Thinke not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

King James Version
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

English Standard Version
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

New American Standard Bible
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

New Century Version
"Don't think that I came to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Amplified Bible
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword [of division between belief and unbelief].

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thinke not that I am come to sende peace into the earth: I came not to send peace, but the sworde.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Legacy Standard Bible
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Contemporary English Version
Don't think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Don't suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Land. It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword!

Darby Translation
Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I have not come to send peace, but a sword.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring trouble.

Good News Translation
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Lexham English Bible
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth! I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Literal Translation
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

American Standard Version
Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Bible in Basic English
Do not have the thought that I have come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword.

Hebrew Names Version
"Don't think that I came to send shalom on the eretz. I didn't come to send shalom, but a sword.

International Standard Version
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword![fn]Luke 12:49,51-53;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
EXPECT not that I have come to send forth peace on the earth; I have not come to send forth peace, but the sword.

Murdock Translation
Think not that I have come to sow quietness on the earth: I have not come to sow quietness, but conflict.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thinke not that I am come to sende peace into the earth. I came not to sende peace, but a sworde.

English Revised Version
Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

World English Bible
"Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn't come to send peace, but a sword.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I am not come to send peace, but a sword.

Weymouth's New Testament
"Do not suppose that I came to bring peace to the earth: I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Nile ye deme, that Y cam to sende pees in to erthe; Y cam not to sende pees, but swerd.

Update Bible Version
Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth: I didn't come to send peace, but a sword.

Webster's Bible Translation
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

New English Translation
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

New King James Version
Luke 12:51-53; 14:26,27">[xr] "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

New Living Translation
"Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

New Life Bible
"Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

New Revised Standard
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not think, that I came to thrust peace upon the earth, - I came not to thrust, peace, but, a sword;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.

Revised Standard Version
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Thynke not that I am come to sende peace into the erth. I came not to send peace but a swearde.

Young's Literal Translation
`Ye may not suppose that I came to put peace on the earth; I did not come to put peace, but a sword;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thynke not that I am come to sende peace vpon earth. I came not to sende peace, but a swerde.

Mace New Testament (1729)
don't imagine that I am come to bring peace upon the earth: I came not to bring peace, but war.

THE MESSAGE
"Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me.

Simplified Cowboy Version
"Don't think I have come to make everyone lovey-dovey and peaceful. I didn't come to bring superficial harmony, but a sword.

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ Behold, I am sending you like lambs among the wolves; therefore be wise as serpents, and pure as doves. ¹⁷ But be careful of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ And they will bring you before the presence of governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry as to how or what you will speak; for it will be given to you in that very hour what you are to speak. ²⁰ For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaks through you. ²¹ Brother will deliver up his own brother to death, and father his son; and children will rise up against their parents and put them to death. ²² And you will be hated by everybody because of my name; but he who endures until the end shall live. ²³ When they persecute you in this city, escape to another; for truly I say to you, that you shall not finish converting all the cities of the house of Israel, until the Son of man returns. ²⁴ No disciple is more important than his teacher, and no servant than his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and for a servant to be like his master. If then, they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that I: Jeremiah 15:10, Luke 12:49-53, John 7:40-52, Acts 13:45-50, Acts 14:2, Acts 14:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:40 - thy sword Judges 3:2 - might know Jeremiah 9:4 - ye heed Jeremiah 11:21 - that seek Zechariah 8:10 - for Zechariah 11:6 - deliver Matthew 10:21 - the brother shall Luke 12:51 - General John 10:19 - General Acts 23:7 - there Acts 28:29 - great reasoning

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Think not ye that I am come to send peace on earth,.... The Jews had a notion of great outward peace and prosperity in the days of the Messiah; which was grounded on several prophecies of the Old Testament, not rightly understood by them; and the disciples of Christ had imbibed the same notion: wherefore our Lord thought fit to let them know the contrary; and that they must not expect outward ease and quiet, and worldly tranquillity would attend their ministry; for though he came to be a peace maker between God and sinners, by the blood of his cross; and was both the author and donor of spiritual peace to his people; and the Gospel he brought with him, and sent them to preach, was the Gospel of peace; which, accompanied with his power, would produce peace in the consciences of men, and be the means of cultivating and maintaining peace among the saints; yet "peace on earth" in a temporal sense, whether in the world in general, or in Judea in particular, must not be expected as the consequence of his coming; so far from it, that he subjoins,

I came, not to send peace, but a sword. By the "sword" may be meant the Gospel, which is the means of dividing and separating the people of Christ from the men of the world, and from their principles and practices, and one relation from another; as also of divisions, discords, and persecutions arising from it: not that it was the intention and design of Christ, in coming into the world, to foment and encourage such things; but this, through the malice and wickedness of men, was eventually the effect and consequence of his coming; see Luke 12:51 where, instead of a "sword", it is "division"; because the sword divides asunder, as does the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Think not that I am come ... - This is taken from Micah 7:6. Christ did not here mean to say that the object of his coming was to produce discord and contention, for he was the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 11:6; Luke 2:14; but he means to say that such would be one of the effects of his coming. One part of a family that was opposed to Him would set themselves against those who believed in him. The wickedness of men, and not the religion of the gospel, is the cause of this hostility. It is unnecessary to say that no prophecy has been more strikingly fulfilled; and it will continue to be fulfilled until all unite in obeying his commandments. Then his religion will produce universal peace. Compare the notes at Matthew 10:21.

But a sword - The sword is an instrument of death, and to send a sword is the same as to produce hostility and war.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace, c.] The meaning of this difficult passage will be plain, when we consider the import of the word peace, and the expectation of the Jews. I have already had occasion to remark, (Matthew 10:12,) that the word שלום shalom, rendered by the Greeks ειρηνη, was used among the Hebrews to express all possible blessings, temporal and spiritual but especially the former. The expectation of the Jews was, that, when the Messiah should come, all temporal prosperity should be accumulated on the land of Judea; therefore την γην, in this verse, should not be translated the earth, but this land. The import of our Lord's teaching here is this, Do not imagine, as the Jews in general vainly do, that I am come to send forth, (βαλλειν,) by forcing out the Roman power, that temporal prosperity which they long for; I am not come for this purpose, but to send forth (βαλλειν) the Roman sword, to cut off a disobedient and rebellious nation, the cup of whose iniquity is already full, and whose crimes cry aloud for speedy vengeance. See also Clarke on "Luke 12:49". From the time they rejected the Messiah, they were a prey to the most cruel and destructive factions; they employed their time in butchering one another, till the Roman sword was unsheathed against them, and desolated the land.