1 Thessalonians 5:3

American Standard Version (1901)

When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ὅταν γὰρ λέγωσιν, Εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια· τότε αἰφνίδιος αὐτοῖς ἐφίσταται ὄλεθρος, ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ· καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκφύγωσιν.

Transliteration

Hotan gar legōsin, Eirēnē and asphaleia; tote aiphnidios autois ephistatai olethros, hōsper the ōdin tē en gastri echousē; and ou mē ekphygōsin.

Grammar Details

• *Hotan*: temporal conjunction - when/whenever
• *gar*: postpositive conjunction - for/because
• *legōsin*: present, active, subjunctive, 3rd person plural - they may say/they should say
• *Eirēnē*: nominative, feminine, singular - peace
• *asphaleia*: nominative, feminine, singular - security/safety
• *tote*: adverb - then/at that time
• *aiphnidios*: nominative, masculine, singular - sudden/unexpected
• *autois*: dative, masculine, plural - to them/for them
• *ephistatai*: present, middle, indicative, 3rd person singular - comes upon/stands over
• *olethros*: nominative, masculine, singular - destruction/ruin
• *hōsper*: comparative conjunction - just as/exactly as
• *ōdin*: nominative, feminine, singular - birth pang/labor pain
• *tē*: dative, feminine, singular - to the
• *en*: preposition + dative - in
• *gastri*: dative, feminine, singular - womb/belly
• *echousē*: present, active, participle, dative, feminine, singular - having/holding
• *ou mē*: emphatic negation - by no means/certainly not
• *ekphygōsin*: aorist, active, subjunctive, 3rd person plural - they might escape

Word Meanings

• *Eirēnē*: peace/state of peace
• *asphaleia*: security/safety/certainty
• *aiphnidios*: sudden/unexpected/unforeseen
• *ephistatai*: comes upon/stands over/befalls
• *olethros*: destruction/ruin/doom
• *ōdin*: birth pang/labor pain
• *gastri echousē*: having in womb/pregnant woman
• *ekphygōsin*: they might escape/they might flee away

Referenced Verses

• Luke 17:26-30 : 26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: 30 after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.
• Luke 21:34-35 : 34 But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: 35 for [so] shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth.
• 2 Thess 1:9 : 9 who shall suffer punishment, [even] eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
• Heb 2:3 : 3 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard;
• Heb 12:23 : 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
• Nah 1:10 : 10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly as dry stubble.
• Matt 24:37-39 : 37 And as [were] the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
• Acts 13:41 : 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you.
• Rev 18:7-8 : 7 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. [ 8 Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her.
• Exod 15:9-9 : 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
• Deut 29:19 : 19 and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.
• Josh 8:20-22 : 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
• Judg 18:27-28 : 27 And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt therein.
• Judg 20:41-42 : 41 And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil was come upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and they that came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst thereof.
• 2 Chr 32:19-21 : 19 And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands. 20 And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. 21 And Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
• Ps 10:11-13 : 11 He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten; He hideth his face; he will never see it. 12 Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: Forget not the poor. 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it] ?
• Ps 48:6 : 6 Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in travail.
• Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction. 19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
• Prov 29:1 : 1 He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
• Isa 21:3-4 : 3 Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4 My heart fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.
• Isa 30:13 : 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant.
• Isa 43:6-9 : 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; 7 every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yea, whom I have made. 8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
• Isa 56:12 : 12 Come ye, [say they], I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure.
• Jer 4:31 : 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.
• Jer 6:24 : 24 We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.
• Jer 13:21 : 21 What wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?
• Jer 22:23 : 23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
• Dan 5:3-6 : 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5 In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
• Hos 13:13 : 13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.
• Mic 4:9-9 : 9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee, is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail? 10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and shalt dwell in the field, and shalt come even unto Babylon: there shalt thou be rescued; there will Jehovah redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
• Matt 23:33 : 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?
• Acts 12:22-23 : 22 And the people shouted, [saying], The voice of a god, and not of a man. 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
• 2 Pet 2:4 : 4 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;