For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
nation shall.
2 Chronicles 15:6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
Isaiah 9:19-21 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother…
Isaiah 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
famines.
Isaiah 24:19-23 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly…
Ezekiel 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
Joel 2:30,31 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke…
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Famines and earthquakes are natural disasters that have plagued humanity throughout history. In the biblical context, famines often served as a form of divine judgment or a call to repentance, as seen in the story of Joseph in Genesis 41. Earthquakes, too, are frequently associated with God's power and judgment, such as the earthquake at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:18. The mention of "various places" suggests a global scope, indicating that these events will not be isolated but widespread. This aligns with the apocalyptic imagery found in the Book of Revelation, where natural disasters are part of the end-times scenario. These events serve as reminders of the transient nature of the world and the need for spiritual preparedness.
Jesus begins with a plain-spoken warning: “Nation will rise against nation” (Matthew 24:7). He is describing literal conflicts among ethnic groups and sovereign states—strife that would intensify after His ascension and continue until His return.
• Already in the book of Acts we see uprisings (Acts 5:36-37) that preview greater wars.
• James pinpoints the heart issue behind such clashes—“battles among you” rooted in human passions (James 4:1-2).
• Revelation’s red horse removes peace from the earth so that people “slay one another” (Revelation 6:4), echoing Jesus’ words.
Christ’s statement is not meant to alarm His followers into despair but to remind them that these conflicts fit within God’s prophetic timetable (Isaiah 46:9-10).
The phrase widens the scope: entire realms, not just individual nations, will collide. Scripture repeatedly portrays this escalation.
• Isaiah foresees Egyptians set “against kingdom” within their land (Isaiah 19:2).
• Daniel’s visions highlight successive empires locked in struggle (Daniel 11:40-45).
• 2 Chronicles 15:6 notes that “nation was crushed by nation and city by city” when Judah drifted from the Lord—showing that spiritual rebellion fuels political upheaval.
Jesus frames these kingdom-level convulsions as a sign that history is marching toward His promised reign (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15).
Beyond human conflict, creation itself groans. Jesus lists two headline calamities:
• Famines—Acts 11:28 records a “great famine…over all the world” in the apostolic era, previewing future shortages (Revelation 6:5-6). Such scarcity exposes mankind’s dependence on God for daily bread (Psalm 104:27-28).
• Earthquakes—From the cross-shaking quake at Jerusalem (Matthew 27:51) to the prison-shaking quake at Philippi (Acts 16:26), these tremors remind us that the earth is not ultimately stable (Hebrews 12:26-27). Final judgments will feature even greater seismic events (Revelation 16:18).
These upheavals are literal, measurable phenomena, yet they also function as moral megaphones—calling sinners to repentance and saints to endurance (Luke 13:1-5).
The troubles Jesus lists are not confined to one corner of the globe. “Various places” assures us they will surface unpredictably across regions and generations. Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11 repeat the same phrase, reinforcing its breadth.
• Romans 8:22 explains that “the whole creation has been groaning together,” so we should not be surprised when disasters appear in diverse settings.
• This scattered pattern underscores that no earthly refuge is foolproof; our only safe shelter is in Christ Himself (Psalm 46:1-3).
Because these signs unfold worldwide, believers everywhere share a common calling—to stay watchful, love one another, and keep proclaiming the gospel (Matthew 24:14).
Matthew 24:7 sketches a multi-layered preview of the age between Jesus’ first and second advents: escalating wars, clashing kingdoms, mounting famines, and frequent earthquakes scattered across the planet. Each element is literal, each under God’s sovereign oversight, and each intended to remind us that the present order is passing away. Rather than yielding to fear, disciples are to read these signs as incentives to faithfulness, confident that the same Lord who foretold them will soon return to bring perfect peace and unshakable stability to His redeemed creation.
(7) Nation shall rise against nation.--Some of the more memorable of these are recorded by Josephus: one at Seleucia, in which 50,000 Jews are said to have perished (Ant. xviii. 9, ?? 8, 9); others at Caesarea, Scythopolis, Joppa, Ascalon, and Tyre (Wars 2:18); and the memorable conflict between Jews and Greeks at Alexandria, under Caligula, A.D. 38, of which we learn from Philo. The whole period was, indeed, marked by tumults of this kind.Famines.--Of these we know that of which Agabus prophesied (Acts 11:28), and which was felt severely, in the ninth year of Claudius, not only in Syria, but in Rome (Jos. Ant. xx. 2). Suetonius (Claud. c. 18) speaks of the reign of that emperor as marked by "continual scarcity."
Pestilences.--The word is not found in the best MSS., and has probably been inserted from the parallel passage in Luke 21:11. It was, however, the inevitable attendant on famine, and the Greek words for the two (?????, and ??????, limos and loimos) were so like each other that the omission may possibly have been an error of transcription. A pestilence is recorded as sweeping off 30,000 persons at Rome (Sueton. Nero, 39; Tacitus, Ann. xvi. 13).
Earthquakes, in divers places.--Perhaps no period in the world's history has ever been so marked by these convulsions as that which intervenes between the Crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus records one in Judaea (Wars, iv. 4, ? 5); Tacitus tells of them in Crete, Rome, Apamea, Phrygia, Campania (Ann. xii. 58; xiv. 27; xv. 22); Seneca (Ep. 91), in A.D. 58, speaks of them as extending their devastations over Asia (the proconsular province, not the continent), Achaia, Syria, and Macedonia.
Verse 7. - Nation shall rise against nation, etc. This part of the prediction is inapplicable to the era preceding the ruin of Jerusalem, the disturbances that occurred then (e.g. at Alexandria, Seleucia, Jamnia, and other localities mentioned by Josephus, 'Ant.,' 18:09. 8, 9; 'Bell. Jud.,' 2:17. 10; 18:1-8; 4:3. 2; and by Philo, 'Legat. ad Caium,' § 30) could hardly have been indicated in such grand terms. More to the purpose is the sketch of the period given by Tacitus, at the opening of his history, though it embraces also details belonging to a somewhat later age: "I enter upon a work fertile in vicissitudes, stained with the blood of battles, embroiled with dissensions, horrible even in the intervals of peace. Four princes slain by the sword; three civil wars, more with foreign enemies, and sometimes both at once; prosperity in the East, disasters in the West; Illyricum disturbed; the Gauls ready to revolt; Britain conquered, and again lost; Sarmatians end Suevians conspiring against us; the Dacians renowned for defeats given and sustained; the Parthians almost aroused to arms by a counterfeit Nero. Italy afflicted with calamities unheard of, or recurring only after a long interval; cities overwhelmed or swallowed up in the fertile region of Campania; Rome itself laid waste by fire, the most ancient temples destroyed, the very capitol burned by its own citizens," etc. ('Hist.,' I. 2). But the Lord's words seem to refer to times when Rome's dominion had ceased, and nation warred against nation, as in later and modern days in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa So again the prediction must be extended far beyond events in the Jewish cycle. Famines. Besides the famine mentioned in Acts 11:28, there were others in Jerusalem and Judaea (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 3:15. 3; 20:2.6; 4. 2; 'Bell. Jud.,' yd. 3. 3). Suetonius ('Claud.,' 18) speaks of "assiduas sterilitates;" and Tacitus ('Ann.,' 12:43) records as happening at the same period, "frugum egestas, et orta ex eo fames." And pestilences; as consequent on famine. Hence the Greek paronomasia, λιμοὶ καὶ λαμοί, in our text. But many editors expunge λιμοί, considering it, with some reason, to have been introduced from the parallel passage in St. Luke, where it is certainly genuine. Of pestilences we have notice in Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' 4:06, 1), in Tacitus ('Ann.,' 14:16), and Suetonius ('Nero,' 39), where we read that at Rome in a single autumn thirty thousand persons perished. Wordsworth refers to Tertullian ('Apol.,' 20.), Who sees in these predictions infallible proof of the inspiration of Scripture. "Hence it is that we come to be so certain of many things not yet come to pass, from the experience we have of those that are; because those were presignified by the same Spirit with these which we see fulfilling every day" (Reeve). Earthquakes. Commentators relate the occurrence of such commotions at Rome, in Crete, Laodicea, Campania, etc., and at Jerusalem (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' 4:04. 5; Tacitus, 'Ann.,' 12:43, 58; 14:27; 15:22; Seneca, 'Ep.,' 91. 9; Philostraius, 'Vit. Apollon.,' 4:34; Zonaras, 'Ann.,' 11:10). Nosgen takes the term "earthquakes" in a metaphorical sense as equivalent to ταραχαί, and implying mental perturbations; but it seems incongruous to admit a metaphysical prognostication in the midst of a notice of a series of material phenomena. In divers places; κατὰ τόπους: per loca (Vulgate). Some render the words, "in all places," ubivis locorum, as in Luke 2:41, κατ ἔτος, "every year." But it is better to take the preposition distributively, "place by place," like κατ ἄνδρα: so equivalent to "here and there."