Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

KJV

Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου. οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη·

Greek NT

Vos estis lux mundi. Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita,

Vulgate

Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

ASV

You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

12 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

δύναμαι
dunamai
verb · 209×
εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
κεῖμαι
keimai
verb · 23×
κρύπτω
krupto
verb · 19×
κόσμος
kosmos
noun · 184×
οὐ
ou
particle · 1626×
πόλις
polis
noun · 164×
φῶς
phos
noun · 72×
ἐπάνω
epano
adverb · 18×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὄρος
oros
noun · 64×
ὑμεῖς
umeis
pronoun · 1828×

Themes

Parable

Historic Christian voices

10 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§782The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history: - It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."202 - One becomes a …
§1243The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has "put on Christ,"42 has risen with Christ. the candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him the baptized are "the light of the world."43 The newly baptized is now, in the only Son, a child of God entitled to say the prayer of the children of God: "Our Father."
§2821This petition is taken up and granted in the prayer of Jesus which is present and effective in the Eucharist; it bears its fruit in new life in keeping with the Beatitudes.94
Recapitulation of the foregoing argument, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word, knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should be fulfilled. The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz., to those who are partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to th…
2. Whence then does He begin? And what kind of foundations of His new polity does He lay for us? Let us hearken with strict attention unto what is said. For though it was spoken unto them, it was written for the sake also of all men afterwards. And accordingly on this account, though He had His disciples in His mind in His public preaching, yet unto them He limits not His sayin…
1. The Work is Taken Up After a Violent Interruption, Which Has Driven the Writer from Alexandria. He Addresses Himself to It Again, with Thanks for His Deliverance, and Prayer for Guidance. When a house is being built which is to be made as strong as possible, the building takes place in fine weather and in calm, so that nothing may hinder the structure from acquiring the need…
Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Genesis 1) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. Chapter 1. He Ca…
Ye are the salt of the earth. Christianity, true scriptural Christianity, has a double office — to preserve and to season. It preserves the world from total corruption, and it diffuses its own flavor throughout. But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? A Christian who has lost his vital piety is the most useless of creatures.

Cross-references

  • 1Thess 5:5 — Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
  • 2Cor 6:14 — Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
  • Eph 5:8 — For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
  • Exod 35:14 — The candlestick also for the light, and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the light,
  • Ezek 5:5 — Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
  • John 5:35 — He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
  • John 8:12 — Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
  • John 8:12 — Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
  • John 12:36 — While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
  • Phil 2:15 — That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
  • Phil 2:15 — That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
  • Prov 4:18 — But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
  • Prov 4:18 — But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
  • Rev 1:20 — The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest
  • Rev 1:20 — The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest
  • Rev 11:4 — These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
  • Rev 21:14 — And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
  • Rom 2:19 — And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
  • Rom 2:19 — And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
  • Zech 4:2 — And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, whi