Chapter

Matthew 10:12

ESV As you enter the house, greet it.
NIV As you enter the home, give it your greeting.
NASB As you enter the house, give it your greeting.
CSB Greet a household when you enter it,
NLT When you enter the home, give it your blessing.
KJV And when ye come into an house, salute it.

What does Matthew 10:12 mean?

Jesus is sending out His hand-picked group of twelve apostles. In pairs, they will travel, town by town, throughout Galilee in northern Israel. They will preach His message that the kingdom of heaven is near and do miracles of healing and exorcism in His name (Mathew 10:5–10). He has told them that when they enter a new town, they should find someone worthy to stay with while they're there (Matthew 10:11). The worthy ones will be those who receive the message of the nearness of heaven's kingdom in the person of Jesus as the Messiah (Matthew 10:14).

Now Jesus tells them that when they enter their host's home, they should "greet it." Luke quotes Jesus more fully in this instruction as telling the apostles to say, "Peace be to this house!" (Luke 10:5). This was more than a polite greeting. As representatives of Jesus, the apostles carried His peace with them. By His power, they were, apparently, able to place that peace upon others and their homes, as the following verse shows.
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