The Meaning of Matthew 24:7 Explained

Matthew 24:7

KJV: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

YLT: 'For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places;

Darby: For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.

ASV: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  nation  shall rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom:  and  there shall be  famines,  and  pestilences,  and  earthquakes,  in divers  places. 

What does Matthew 24:7 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 24:1-14 - Be Ready To Endure
Successive generations have pored over these words of our Lord with great eagerness, endeavoring to extract from them a clear forecast of the future. In the case of the early Christians, they warned them to flee to Pella, and in doing so, to escape the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. But to all of us they are full of instruction.
It is best to consider these paragraphs as containing a double reference. In the first place, up to Matthew 24:28, they evidently deal with the approaching fall of Jerusalem. Our Lord describes the events which were to mark the consummation of the age, Matthew 24:3, r.v., margin. Antichrists, disturbances of physical and national conditions, the persecutions which the infant Church must encounter, the progress of the gospel, and finally the swoop of the Roman eagles on their prey-all these were to mark the close of the Hebrew dispensation and the birth of the Christian Church. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 24

1  Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple;
3  what and how great calamities shall be before it;
29  the signs of his coming to judgment
36  And because that day and hour are unknown,
42  we ought to watch like good servants, expecting our Master's coming

What do the individual words in Matthew 24:7 mean?

Will rise up for nation against nation and kingdom kingdom there will be famines earthquakes in [various] places
ἐγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπὶ ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία βασιλείαν ἔσονται λιμοὶ σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους

ἐγερθήσεται  Will  rise  up 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐγείρω  
Sense: to arouse, cause to rise.
ἔθνος  nation 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: ἔθνος  
Sense: a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together.
ἐπὶ  against 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐπί  
Sense: upon, on, at, by, before.
ἔθνος  nation 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: ἔθνος  
Sense: a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together.
βασιλεία  kingdom 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: βασιλεία  
Sense: royal power, kingship, dominion, rule.
βασιλείαν  kingdom 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: βασιλεία  
Sense: royal power, kingship, dominion, rule.
ἔσονται  there  will  be 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Plural
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
λιμοὶ  famines 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Plural
Root: λιμός  
Sense: scarcity of harvest, famine.
σεισμοὶ  earthquakes 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: σεισμός  
Sense: a shaking, a commotion.
τόπους  [various]  places 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: τόπος 
Sense: place, any portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space.