1 Thessalonians 5:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.

📖 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 was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the day of the Son of man. 27 They were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day of the overflowing of the waters, when Noah went into the ark, and they all came to destruction. 28 In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building; 29 But on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down from heaven and destruction came on them all. 30 So will it be in the day of the revelation of the Son of man.
• Luke 21:34-35 : 34 But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net: 35 For so it will come on all those who are living on the face of all the earth.
• 2 Thess 1:9 : 9 Whose reward will be eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his strength,
• Heb 2:3 : 3 What will come on us, if we do not give our minds to such a great salvation? a salvation of which our fathers first had knowledge through the words of the Lord, and which was made certain to us by those to whom his words came;
• Heb 12:23 : 23 To the great meeting and church of the first of those who are named in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of good men made complete,
• Nah 1:10 : 10 For though they are like twisted thorns, and are overcome as with drink, they will come to destruction like stems of grass fully dry.
• Matt 24:37-39 : 37 And as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. 38 Because as in those days before the overflowing of the waters, they were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day when Noah went into the ark, 39 And they had no care till the waters came and took them all away; so will be the coming of the Son of man.
• Acts 13:41 : 41 See, you doubters, have wonder and come to your end; for I will do a thing in your days to which you will not give belief, even if it is made clear to you.
• Rev 18:7-8 : 7 As she gave glory to herself, and became more evil in her ways, in the same measure give her pain and weeping: for she says in her heart, I am seated here a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see sorrow. 8 For this reason in one day will her troubles come, death and sorrow and need of food; and she will be completely burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who is her judge.
• Exod 15:9-9 : 9 Egypt said, I will go after them, I will overtake, I will make division of their goods: my desire will have its way with them; my sword will be uncovered, my hand will send destruction on them. 10 You sent your wind and the sea came over them: they went down like lead into the great waters.
• Deut 29:19 : 19 If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:
• Josh 8:20-22 : 20 Then the men of Ai, looking back, saw the smoke of the town going up to heaven, and were unable to go this way or that: and the people who had gone in flight to the waste land were turned back on those who were coming after them. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been taken by the surprise attack, and that the smoke of the town had gone up, turning round they overcame the men of Ai. 22 Then the other force came out of the town against them, so that they were being attacked on this side and on that: and Israel overcame them and let not one of them get away with his life.
• Judg 18:27-28 : 27 And they took that which Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a people living quietly and without thought of danger, and they put them to the sword without mercy, burning down their town. 28 And they had no saviour, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with Aram; and it was in the valley which is the property of Beth-rehob. And building up the town again they took it for their living-place.
• Judg 20:41-42 : 41 And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them. 42 So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword.
• 2 Chr 32:19-21 : 19 Talking of the God of Jerusalem as if he was like the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands. 20 And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, made prayer because of this, crying out to heaven. 21 And the Lord sent an angel who put to death all the men of war and the chiefs and the captains in the army of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his country in shame. And when he came into the house of his god, his sons, the offspring of his body, put him to death there with the sword.
• Ps 10:11-13 : 11 He says in his heart, God has no memory of me: his face is turned away; he will never see it. 12 Up! O Lord; let your hand be lifted: give thought to the poor. 13 Why has the evil-doer a low opinion of God, saying in his heart, You will not make search for it?
• Ps 48:6 : 6 Shaking came on them and pain, as on a woman in childbirth.
• Ps 73:18-20 : 18 You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction. 19 How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction. 20 As a dream when one is awake, they are ended; they are like an image gone out of mind when sleep is over.
• Prov 29:1 : 1 A man hating sharp words and making his heart hard, will suddenly be broken and will not be made well again.
• Isa 21:3-4 : 3 For this cause I am full of bitter grief; pains like the pains of a woman in childbirth have come on me: I am bent down with sorrow at what comes to my ears; I am shocked by what I see. 4 My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me.
• Isa 30:13 : 13 This sin will be to you like a crack in a high wall, causing its fall suddenly and in a minute.
• Isa 43:6-9 : 6 I will say to the north, Give them up; and to the south, Do not keep them back; send back my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; 7 Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me. 8 Send out the blind people who have eyes, and those who have ears, but they are shut. 9 Let all the nations come together, and let the peoples be present: who among them is able to make this clear, and give us word of earlier things? let their witnesses come forward, so that they may be seen to be true, and that they may give ear, and say, It is true.
• Isa 56:12 : 12 Come, they say, I will get wine, and we will take strong drink in full measure; and tomorrow will be like today, full of pleasure.
• Jer 4:31 : 31 A voice has come to my ears like the voice of a woman in birth-pains, the pain of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, fighting for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, Now sorrow is mine! for my strength is gone from me before the takers of life.
• Jer 6:24 : 24 The news of it has come to our ears; our hands have become feeble: trouble has come on us and pain, like the pain of a woman in childbirth.
• Jer 13:21 : 21 What will you say when he puts over you those whom you yourself have made your friends? will not pains take you like a woman in childbirth?
• Jer 22:23 : 23 O you who are living in Lebanon, making your living-place in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied will you be when pains come on you, as on a woman in childbirth!
• Dan 5:3-6 : 3 Then they took in the gold and silver vessels which had been in the Temple of the house of God at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his other women, took wine from them. 4 They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone. 5 In that very hour the fingers of a man's hand were seen, writing opposite the support for the light on the white wall of the king's house, and the king saw the part of the hand which was writing. 6 Then the colour went from the king's face, and he was troubled by his thoughts; strength went from his body, and his knees were shaking.
• Hos 13:13 : 13 The pains of a woman in childbirth will come on him: he is an unwise son, for at this time it is not right for him to keep his place when children come to birth.
• Mic 4:9-9 : 9 Now why are you crying so loudly? is there no king in you? has destruction come on your wise helper? so that pains have taken you like the pains of a woman in childbirth: 10 Be in pain, make sounds of grief, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth: for now you will go out of the town, living in the open country, and will come even to Babylon; there you will have salvation; there the Lord will make you free from the hands of your haters.
• Matt 23:33 : 33 You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?
• Acts 12:22-23 : 22 And the people, with loud cries, said, It is the voice of a god, not of a man. 23 And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.
• 2 Pet 2:4 : 4 For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged;