Mark 13:8 Meaning and Explanation
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Nations and kingdoms will clash, earthquakes and famines will strike — and Jesus calls all this 'the beginnings of sorrows.'
What Does Mark 13:8 Mean?
Jesus widens the view from wars to the groaning of the whole created order: political collapse, earthquakes in scattered places, famine and distress. None of it, he insists, is the end itself. He gathers all of it under one unexpected image — these are 'the beginnings of sorrows,' the first pains of labor.
The image changes everything. Birth pangs are real pain, but pain with a direction; they mean something is coming to birth, not merely falling apart. Jesus teaches his people to read catastrophe neither with denial nor despair but with hope's realism: the world's agonies are not death throes. Creation labors toward the new world God has promised, and every convulsion of history brings it nearer.
Mark 13:8 in the Original Language
odin (ὠδίν), 'sorrows' -- birth pangs, the labor pains that come before new life.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mark 13:8
What does Mark 13:8 mean?
Nations and kingdoms will clash, earthquakes and famines will strike — and Jesus calls all this 'the beginnings of sorrows.'