The Meaning of Mark 13:28 Explained

Mark 13:28

KJV: Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

YLT: 'And from the fig-tree learn ye the simile: when the branch may already become tender, and may put forth the leaves, ye know that nigh is the summer;

Darby: But learn the parable from the fig-tree: when its branch already becomes tender and puts forth the leaves, ye know that the summer is near.

ASV: Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Now  learn  a parable  of  the fig tree;  When  her  branch  is  yet  tender,  and  putteth forth  leaves,  ye know  that  summer  is  near: 

What does Mark 13:28 Mean?

Context Summary

Mark 13:14-37 - "watch!"
The fall of Jerusalem, Mark 13:14-23. This abomination had been predicted by Daniel, Daniel 9:27, Josephus says that the Romans brought their standards into the Temple, and offered sacrifices to them, and proclaimed Titus emperor. Probably there is to be a yet further fulfillment of these significant words. Houses in the East are, for the most part, provided with staircases outside the wall, so that the occupants, seeing the approach of danger, could flee without going through their homes, Mark 13:15. The ungodly owe more than they realize to the elect who dwell among them, Mark 13:20. Let us not be deceived by the appearance of false doctrines or teachers; there are also false Christs, Mark 13:22.
The second advent, Mark 13:24-27. These signs may refer to the disorganization of political rule, or to literal convulsions of the elements. The ministry of angels was very real to Jesus, and their function in the future ages is clearly defined. As Enoch was translated before the deluge, so will the saints be gathered before the final sorrows, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. It would seem as if Christ's coming is to bring summer to our world. This generation may refer to the fact that the Jewish people would remain as a distinct people. Our Lord had so emptied Himself, that in His human nature He knew not the hour, and was content to know only as the Father told Him. He has now resumed the glory of the knowledge which He had before all worlds. Have we each one found our work? Let us watch! [source]

Chapter Summary: Mark 13

1  Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple;
9  the persecutions for the gospel;
10  that the gospel must be preached to all nations;
14  that great calamities shall happen to the Jews;
24  and the manner of his coming to judgment;
32  the hour whereof being known to none, every man is to watch and pray

Greek Commentary for Mark 13:28

Coming to pass [γινομενα]
Present middle participle, linear action. See Matthew 24:32-36 for details of Mark 13:28-32 (the Parable of the Fig Tree). [source]
Parable []
See on Matthew 24:32. [source]
Branch []
See on Mark 11:8. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 13:28

Matthew 13:3 Parables [παραβολαῖς]
From παρά , beside, and βάλλω , to throw. A parable is a form of teaching in which one thing is thrown beside another. Hence its radical idea is comparison. Sir John Cheke renders biword, and the same idea is conveyed by the German Beispiela pattern or example; beibeside, and the old high German speldiscourse or narration. The word is used with a wide range in scripture, but always involves the idea of comparison:1.Of brief sayings, having an oracular or proverbial character. Thus Peter (Matthew 15:15), referring to the words “If the blind lead the blind,” etc., says, “declare unto us thisparable. ” Compare Luke 6:39. So of the patched garment (Luke 5:36), and the guest who assumes the highest place at the feast (Luke 14:7, Luke 14:11). Compare, also, Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:28.2.Of a proverb. The word for proverb ( παροιμία ) has the same idea at the root as parable. It is παρά , beside, οἶμος , a way or road. Either a trite, wayside saying (Trench), or a path by the side of the high road (Godet). See Luke 4:23; 1 Samuel 24:13. 3.Of a song or poem, in which an example is set up by way of comparison. See Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
4.Of a word or discourse which is enigmatical or obscure until the meaning is developed by application or comparison. It occurs along with the words αἴνιγμα , enigma, and πρόβλημα , a problem, something put forth or proposed ( πρό , in front βάλλω , to throw ). See Psalm 49:4 (Sept. 48:4); Psalm 78:2 (Sept. 77:2); Proverbs 1:6, where we have παραβολὴν , parable; σκοτεινὸν λόγον , dark saying; and αἰνίγματα , enigmas. Used also of the sayings of Balaam (Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18; Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15).In this sense Christ uses parables symbolically to expound the mysteries of the kingdom of God; as utterances which conceal from one class what they reveal to another (Matthew 13:11-17), and in which familiar facts of the earthly life are used figuratively to expound truths of the higher life. The un-spiritual do not link these facts of the natural life with those of the supernatural, which are not discerned by them (1 Corinthians 2:14), and therefore they need an interpreter of the relation between the two. Such symbols assume the existence of a law common to the natural and spiritual worlds under which the symbol and the thing symbolized alike work; so that the one does not merely resemble the other superficially, but stands in actual coherence and harmony with it. Christ formulates such a law in connection with the parables of the Talents and the Sower. “To him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away.” That is a law of morals and religion, as of business and agriculture. One must have in order to make. Interest requires capital. Fruit requires not only seed but soil. Spiritual fruitfulness requires an honest and good heart. Similarly, the law of growth as set forth in the parable of the Mustard Seed, is a law common to nature and to the kingdom of God. The great forces in both kingdoms are germinal, enwrapped in small seeds which unfold from within by an inherent power of growth.5. A parable is also an example or type; furnishing a model or a warning; as the Good Samaritan, the Rich Fool, the Pharisee and the Publican. The element of comparison enters here as between the particular incident imagined or recounted, and all cases of a similar kind.The term parable, however, as employed in ordinary Christian phraseology, is limited to those utterances of Christ which are marked by a complete figurative history or narrative. It is thus defined by Goebel (“Parables of Jesus”). “A narrative moving within the sphere of physical or human life, not professing to describe an event which actually took place, but expressly imagined for the purpose of representing, in pictorial figure, a truth belonging to the sphere of religion, and therefore referring to the relation of man or mankind to God.” In form the New Testament parables resemble the fable. The distinction between them does not turn on the respective use of rational and irrational beings speaking and acting. There are fables where the actors are human. Nor does the fable always deal with the impossible, since there are fables in which an animal, for instance, does nothing contrary to its nature. The distinction lies in the religious character of the New Testament parable as contrasted with the secular character of the fable. While the parable exhibits the relations of man to God, the fable teaches lessons of worldly policy or natural morality and utility. “The parable is predominantly symbolic; the fable, for the most part, typical, and therefore presents its teaching only in the form of example, for which reason it chooses animals by preference, not as symbolic, but as typical figures; never symbolic in the sense in which the parable mostly is, because the higher invisible world, of which the parable sees and exhibits the symbol in the visible world of nature and man, lies far from it. Hence the parable can never work with fantastic figures like speaking animals, trees,” etc. (Goebel, condensed). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The parable differs from the allegory in that there is in the latter “an interpenetration of the thing signified and the thing signifying; the qualities and properties of the first being attributed to the last,” and the two being thus blended instead of being kept distinct and parallel. See, for example, the allegory of the Vine and the Branches (John 15) where Christ at once identifies himself with the figure' “I am the true vine.” Thus the allegory, unlike the parable, carries its own interpretation with it. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Parable and proverb are often used interchangeably in the;New Testament; the fundamental conception being, as we have seen, the same in both, the same Hebrew word representing both, and both being enigmatical. They differ rather in extent than in essence; the parable being a proverb expanded and carried into detail, and being necessarily figurative, which the proverb is not; though the range of the proverb is wider, since the parable expands only one particular case of a proverb. (See Trench, “Notes on the Parables,” Introd.) [source]

Mark 13:28 Coming to pass [γινομενα]
Present middle participle, linear action. See Matthew 24:32-36 for details of Mark 13:28-32 (the Parable of the Fig Tree). [source]
Luke 21:29 The fig tree, and all the trees [την συκην και παντα τα δενδρα]
This parable of the fig-tree (Mark 13:28-32; Matthew 24:32-35) Luke applies to “all the trees.” It is true about all of them, but the fig tree was very common in Palestine. [source]
Luke 21:30 Summer [τερος]
Not harvest, but summer. Old word, but in the N.T. only here (Mark 13:28; Matthew 24:32). [source]
Revelation 6:13 Her unripe figs [τους ολυντους αυτης]
An old word (Latin grossi) for figs that grow in winter and fall off in the spring without getting ripe (So Revelation 2:11.), here only in N.T. Jesus used the fig tree (Mark 13:28) as a sign of the “end of the world‘s long winter” (Swete). Cf. Isaiah 34:4; Nahum 3:12. [source]

What do the individual words in Mark 13:28 mean?

Of now the fig tree learn the parable When already the branch of it tender has become and it puts forth the leaves you know that near the summer is
Ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς συκῆς μάθετε τὴν παραβολήν ὅταν ἤδη κλάδος αὐτῆς ἁπαλὸς γένηται καὶ ἐκφύῃ τὰ φύλλα γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐγγὺς τὸ θέρος ἐστίν

δὲ  now 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: δέ  
Sense: but, moreover, and, etc.
συκῆς  fig  tree 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: συκῆ  
Sense: a fig tree.
μάθετε  learn 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: μανθάνω  
Sense: to learn, be appraised.
παραβολήν  parable 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: παραβολή  
Sense: a placing of one thing by the side of another, juxtaposition, as of ships in battle.
ἤδη  already 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ἤδη  
Sense: now, already.
κλάδος  branch 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: κλάδος  
Sense: a young tender shoot, broken off for grafting.
αὐτῆς  of  it 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Feminine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἁπαλὸς  tender 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἁπαλός  
Sense: tender.
γένηται  has  become 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Middle, 3rd Person Singular
Root: γίνομαι  
Sense: to become, i.
ἐκφύῃ  it  puts  forth 
Parse: Verb, Present Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐκφύω  
Sense: to generate or produce from.
φύλλα  leaves 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: φύλλον  
Sense: a leaf.
γινώσκετε  you  know 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: γινώσκω  
Sense: to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel.
ὅτι  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
ἐγγὺς  near 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ἐγγύς  
Sense: near, of place and position.
θέρος  summer 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: θέρος  
Sense: summer.

What are the major concepts related to Mark 13:28?

Loading Information...