1 Thessalonians 5:3

Webster's Bible (1833)

For when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way 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 As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will 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 happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all. 30 It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
• Luke 21:34-35 : 34 "So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly. 35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth.
• 2 Thess 1:9 : 9 who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
• Heb 2:3 : 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation-- which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;
• Heb 12:23 : 23 to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, 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 like dry stubble.
• Matt 24:37-39 : 37 "As the days of Noah were, so will 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 didn't know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
• Acts 13:41 : 41 'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.'"
• Rev 18:7-8 : 7 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, 'I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.' 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
• Exod 15:9-9 : 9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' 10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
• Deut 29:19 : 19 and it happen, when he hears 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 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 who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. 21 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 killed the men of Ai. 22 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 struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
• Judg 18:27-28 : 27 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire. 28 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 lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived therein.
• Judg 20:41-42 : 41 The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil had come on them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of it.
• 2 Chr 32:19-21 : 19 They spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men's hands. 20 Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. 21 Yahweh 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. When he was come into the house of his god, those who came forth from his own bowels killed him there with the sword.
• Ps 10:11-13 : 11 He says in his heart, "God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it." 12 Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don't forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked person condemn God, And say in his heart, "God won't call me into account?"
• Ps 48:6 : 6 Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in travail.
• Ps 73:18-20 : 18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. 19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. 20 As a dream when one wakes up, So, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
• Prov 29:1 : 1 He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck Will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
• Isa 21:3-4 : 3 Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold on me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I can't hear; I am dismayed so that I can't see. 4 My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to 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 comes suddenly in an instant.
• Isa 43:6-9 : 6 I will tell the north, Give up; and to the south, Don't keep back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; 7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made. 8 Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who 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 you, [say they], I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow 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 who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul faints before the murderers.
• Jer 6:24 : 24 We have heard the report of it; our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.
• Jer 13:21 : 21 What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?
• Jer 22:23 : 23 Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shall you be when pangs come on you, 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 lampstand on 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 face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
• Hos 13:13 : 13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; For when it is time, he doesn't come to the opening of the womb.
• Mic 4:9-9 : 9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, That pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail? 10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, Like a woman in travail; For now you will go forth out of the city, And will dwell in the field, And will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
• Matt 23:33 : 33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
• Acts 12:22-23 : 22 The people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn't give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
• 2 Pet 2:4 : 4 For if God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus{Tartarus is another name for Hell}, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;