Luke 12:49
New International Version
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

New Living Translation
“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!

English Standard Version
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!

Berean Standard Bible
I have come to ignite a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Berean Literal Bible
I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were kindled already!

King James Bible
I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

New King James Version
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

New American Standard Bible
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!

NASB 1995
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!

NASB 1977
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!

Legacy Standard Bible
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Amplified Bible
“I have come to cast fire (judgment) on the earth; and how I wish that it were already kindled!

Christian Standard Bible
“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!

American Standard Version
I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, if it is already kindled?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“I have come to set fire to the earth, and I only wish it were already burning.”

Contemporary English Version
I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it were already on fire!

Douay-Rheims Bible
I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?

English Revised Version
I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"I have come to throw fire on the earth. I wish that it had already started!

Good News Translation
"I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled!

International Standard Version
"I've come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze!

Literal Standard Version
I came to cast fire to the earth, and what I wish [is] if it were already kindled!

Majority Standard Bible
I have come to ignite a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

New American Bible
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!

NET Bible
"I have come to bring fire on the earth--and how I wish it were already kindled!

New Revised Standard Version
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

New Heart English Bible
"I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

Webster's Bible Translation
I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it is already kindled?

Weymouth New Testament
"I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my desire? Oh that it were even now kindled!

World English Bible
“I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

Young's Literal Translation
'Fire I came to cast to the earth, and what will I if already it was kindled?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Not Peace, But Division
48But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded. 49I have come to ignite a fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!…

Cross References
Luke 12:48
But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.

Luke 12:50
But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!


Treasury of Scripture

I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

come.

Luke 12:51,52
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: …

Isaiah 11:4
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Joel 2:30,31
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke…

and.

Luke 11:53,54
And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: …

Luke 13:31-33
The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee…

Luke 19:39,40
And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples…

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Luke 12
1. Jesus preaches to his apostles to avoid hypocrisy
13. and warns against covetousness, by the parable of the man who set up greater barns.
22. We must not worry about earthly things,
31. but seek the kingdom of God;
33. give alms;
35. be ready at a knock to open to our Lord whensoever he comes.
41. Jesus' disciples are to see to their charges,
49. and look for persecution.
54. The people must take this time of grace;
57. because it is a fearful thing to die without reconciliation.














(49) I am come to send fire on the earth.--There is a strange unique abruptness in the utterance. We are compelled to assume a pause, a moment's thought, as in one whose gaze looks out into the future, and who at once feels its terrors and yet accepts them. The fire which He came to send is the fire of judgment which shall burn up the chaff (see Note on Matthew 3:12), the baptism of fire which shall purify and cleanse as well as destroy. The Son of Man knew that this, with all its terrors, was what He came to work. If the fire was already kindled, if judgment was already passed upon the unfaithful stewards and the servants who knew their Lord's will and did it not, why should He wish to check it? What other wish or will was right for Him than that it should complete what it had begun, even though it brought not peace, but a sword--not union, but division?

Verse 49. - I am come to send fire on the earth. It is still the same train of thought that the Master pursues - a train which had been only slightly diverted by Peter's question. The text, so to speak, of the whole discourse was "the strange attraction which riches possess for men, and the palsying effect which this attraction, when yielded to, exercises over the whole life." The Master's argument was as follows: "Beware of covetousness; let your attachment to earthly possessions sit very lightly on you all; and as for you, my disciples, do you have nothing to do with these perishable goods." And here, with an abrupt solemnity, probably the voice changing here, and ringing with an awful emotion, he enforces his charge to the disciples with the words, "I am come to send fire on the earth." "My stern, sad work is to inaugurate a mighty struggle, to cast a firebrand on the earth. Lo, my presence will stir up men - you will see this in a way none now dream of; a vast convulsion will rend this people asunder. In the coming days of war and tumult, what have you, my disciples, who will be in the forefront of this movement, - what have you to do with earthly goods? Toss them away from you as useless baggage. The pioneers of the army of the future, surely they must be unencumbered in the war, which is about to break out; for remember, 'I am come to send fire on the earth.'" And what will I, if it be already kindled? better rendered, how I would that it had been already kindled! That is to say, "How I wish that this fire were already burning!" (so Olshausen, De Wette, Bleek, and Farrar). Through all the woe, however, the Redeemer could see, shining as it were through a dark cloud, the unspeakable glory and blessedness of his work. But this fire could not be kindled into a flame until something had happened. The cross must be endured by him; till then his work was not finished; and in his pure human nature - it is with stammering tongue and trembling pen we speak or write here - he felt, we believe, the bitter stinging pain of dread expectation of what was coming. With this onlook he was weighed down, we know, at times; witness especially the Gethsemane agony. He goes on to say -

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
I have come
ἦλθον (ēlthon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2064: To come, go.

to ignite
βαλεῖν (balein)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 906: (a) I cast, throw, rush, (b) often, in the weaker sense: I place, put, drop. A primary verb; to throw.

a fire
Πῦρ (Pyr)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4442: Fire; the heat of the sun, lightning; fig: strife, trials; the eternal fire. A primary word; 'fire'.

on
ἐπὶ (epi)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

earth,
γῆν (gēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1093: Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

how
τί (ti)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

I wish
θέλω (thelō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

it were already kindled!
ἀνήφθη (anēphthē)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 381: To kindle, set on fire, light. From ana and hapto; to enkindle.


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NT Gospels: Luke 12:49 I came to throw fire (Luke Lu Lk)
Luke 12:48
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