1 Thessalonians 5:3

Authorized King James Version (1611)

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not 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 was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.› 27 ‹They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.› 28 ‹Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;› 29 ‹But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed› [them] ‹all.› 30 ‹Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.›
• Luke 21:34-35 : 34 ‹And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and› [so] ‹that day come upon you unawares.› 35 ‹For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.›
• 2 Thess 1:9 : 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
• Heb 2:3 : 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him];
• Heb 12:23 : 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
• Nah 1:10 : 10 For while [they be] folden together [as] thorns, and while they are drunken [as] drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
• Matt 24:37-39 : 37 ‹But as the days of Noe› [were], ‹so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.› 38 ‹For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,› 39 ‹And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.›
• 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, though a man declare it unto you.
• Rev 18:7-8 : 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.
• Exod 15:9-9 : 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust 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 imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
• 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 other issued 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 [the things] which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people [that were] at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28 And [there was] no deliverer, because it [was] far from Zidon, and they had no business with [any] man; and it was in the valley that [lieth] by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
• Judg 20:41-42 : 41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: 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 overtook them; and them which [came] out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
• 2 Chr 32:19-21 : 19 And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, [which were] the work of the hands of man. 20 And for this [cause] Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. 21 And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, 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 of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
• Ps 10:11-13 : 11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see [it]. 12 ¶ Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it].
• Ps 48:6 : 6 Fear took hold upon them there, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.
• Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 19 How are they [brought] into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when [one] awaketh; [so], O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt 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 pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing [of it]; I was dismayed at the seeing [of it]. 4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear 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 at 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 ends of the earth; 7 [Even] every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. 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 people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth 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, [and] much more abundant.
• Jer 4:31 : 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
• Jer 6:24 : 24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.
• Jer 13:21 : 21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
• Jer 22:23 : 23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious 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 princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in 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 fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister 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, and his thoughts troubled him, so that 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 he should not stay long 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? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go [even] to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
• Matt 23:33 : 33 [Ye] ‹serpents,› [ye] ‹generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?›
• Acts 12:22-23 : 22 And the people gave a shout, [saying, It is] the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23 And immediately the 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 the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;