New World Translation
For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be. (Matthew 24:38, 39)
New International Version
and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
New Living Translation
People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
English Standard Version
and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Berean Standard Bible
And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Berean Literal Bible
and they were unaware until the flood came and took away all; so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.
King James Bible
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
New King James Version
and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
New American Standard Bible
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
NASB 1995
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
NASB 1977
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.
Legacy Standard Bible
and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Amplified Bible
and they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be [unexpected judgment].
Christian Standard Bible
They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be:
American Standard Version
and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they did not perceive until the flood came and took them all away, thus will be the coming of The Son of Man.
Contemporary English Version
They didn’t know anything was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. This is how it will be when the Son of Man appears.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
English Revised Version
and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
GOD’S WORD® Translation
They were not aware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.
Good News Translation
yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.
International Standard Version
They were unaware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That’s how it will be when the Son of Man comes.
Literal Standard Version
and they did not know until the flood came and took all away, so will also be the coming of the Son of Man.
Majority Standard Bible
And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
New American Bible
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be [also] at the coming of the Son of Man.
NET Bible
And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man.
New Revised Standard Version
and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
New Heart English Bible
and they did not know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Webster’s Bible Translation
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so also will be the coming of the Son of man.
Weymouth New Testament
nor did they realise any danger till the Deluge came and swept them all away; so will it be at the Coming of the Son of Man.
World English Bible
and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Young’s Literal Translation
and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man.
What does the original Greek say in this verse?
Why does the New World Translation rendering of this scripture differ from all other Bibles including the original Greek? Because they take into consideration the words of 2 Peter 2:5
And he did not refrain from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a flood upon a world of ungodly people. (2 Peter 2:5)
From this, the assumption is made that Noah must have preached while constructing the ark and the people did not take any note of either his preaching or his activity. Since Jesus said so it will be at his future presence, which they believe began in 1914, this conclusion is then used as proof that the Watchtower organization is the only true religion because it alone preaches a warning message about the coming of Armageddon.
Exclaiming About the Peril of Our Time
It may surprise some to know that amid all the blatant cries created by the nuclear-weapon threat the real peril has been obscured. This real peril is of supreme importance because it affects the everlasting destiny of all persons. How could such a peril ever be obscured? And just what is it? The real peril is the fate toward which Satan the Devil is leading all the nations of the earth. That fate is everlasting annihilation at the hands of Almighty God. This destiny of destruction will befall hundreds of millions, because the Devil is misleading the nations: “Down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Rev. 12:9, NW) There are no exceptions; every country on earth, the Bible declares, is being misled. For the sake of your very life you must now make certain that you are not being misled along with the nations…
Is it strange that the public press and the clerical luminaries have not warned the people of God’s war of Armageddon, the real peril? No, because so thorough has been the Devil’s deception that the mass of mankind will be caught off guard, just as they were in Noah’s time. Jesus brings this to our attention. He tells us that the catastrophic flood was pictorial of the great peril facing men of this generation. Through Noah, not through the worldly organization of that time, God proclaimed the peril of the pre flood world. But the people “took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.” Then the Master explains: “So the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:39, NW) Thus, the masses will “take no note” of the real peril until Armageddon comes and sweeps them all away into destruction…
Today only one organization is exclaiming about this real peril. This is the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. For many years now they have diligently sounded the warning. All others have remained silent. This very silence is the sign of a false religion. The Bible calls false religionists “dumb dogs” because they do not exclaim in warning: “They are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.”—Isa. 56:10, AS…
By all means, then, flee now to the New World theocratic system of things. Abandon the wicked world organization. A New World society is formed. Jehovah’s witnesses, who come to your door, will be glad to tell you more about the New World society, the only organization exclaiming about the real peril of our times. (The Watchtower March 1, 1955pp. 131-132)
But what point was Jesus trying to make? What does the context reveal? Did he mention anything about either the need to preach or pay attention to a proclamation about a coming disaster?
“Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. “But know one thing: If the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it. “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on coming finds him doing so! Truly I say to you, he will appoint him over all his belongings. “But if ever that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ and he starts to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his place with the hypocrites. There is where his weeping and the gnashing of his teeth will be. (Matthew 24:36-51)
But what about 2 Peter 2:5? Doesn’t the Bible clearly say that Noah preached? Yes, it does. But does it tell us exactly when he preached? Does it tell us how many he preached to? No.
Jesus also compared his future presence with the days of Lot.
Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodʹom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be the same on that day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30)
Although Lot tried to convince the men engaged to marry his daughters, there is no mention of him being given a commission to warn all of the people in the city. (Gen. 19:12-14)
God had already determined that the people of Sodom deserved destruction. What Jesus clearly said must not be overlooked. He did not say the people prior to the flood refused to pay attention. He said that they did not know it was coming and for that reason it swept them all away. How could they not have known if Noah preached to them?
This is not to say that no one at the time noticed the colossal building project being carried out by Noah and his sons. Or that he said nothing to his relatives or those living nearby about a coming flood. But just as in the case of Lot and the people of Sodom, there is no indication that he was given a commission by God to preach to the entire pre flood world. Nor does it say anything about his wife, his sons or his sons’ wives spending time in preaching. Peter says only of Noah, that he was a preacher of righteousness as a description solely of his character and activity.
Noah was told to build an ark of a certain size and capacity for carrying his family and the animals. Paul, in Hebrews says Noah’s faith was manifested by this, not by some preaching campaign, that he condemned the world of that time. (Heb. 11:7)
In the constructing of it, there were no instructions for him to include extra carrying capacity for those who might join him and his family as a result of their preaching. As in the case of Sodom, God had already made a determination to destroy that pre flood civilization with Noah being the only exception. (Gen. 6:7,8,18)
So, the New World Translation rendering of Matthew 24:39
- Is not a faithful rendering of the Greek text
- Does not agree with the overall context of Jesus message
- Is not supported by the Genesis account
- Is not supported by Hebrews 11:7
- Only serves to bolster Watchtower’s claim of being the only true religion