Matthew24:4

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Translation

And answering, Jesus said to them, “Watch carefully

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lest someone cause you to wander

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from the correct path.

Paraphrase

Then, by way of an answer Jesus said to them, “Keep your physical eyes open with spiritual discernment, otherwise someone might completely lead you onto the wrong path.

Footnotes

1

The word used here means “to look, or watch.” It includes the idea of seeing events in the physical realm in such a way that a spiritual understanding of what is really going on is attained. It is a strong word that was often used as we would use “look out, keep watch, or beware!”

2

This word is sometimes translated “mislead,” because it means to “cause someone to wander from the correct path.” The idea of “wandering” is at the center of this word. When someone has no purpose, he will inevitably follow his natural desires and end up on the wrong path. This word includes an inherent understanding that there will be incorrect action and wrongful living, not just incorrect thinking. For that reason I think the English “mislead” is not strong enough. I have chosen to give you the longer phrase because it is closer to how the original audience would have understood it.

In the paraphrase column I have added the word “completely” because the tense of the verb serves to intensify its meaning.