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Luke 17 · a question people ask

What does "God’s Kingdom is within you" (17:21) mean?

In the text

Here are Luke's words: "Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”" (17:20-21). Luke doesn't explain them, and these notes don't either: they give the words no reading of their own.

The verses

“Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them, “God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.””
Luke 17:20-21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Luke 17

Luke 17: Where are the nine?

Ten men were cleansed as they went. One, "when he saw that he was healed, turned back" (17:15), and Jesus asked, "Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" (17:18). In the Greek, turned back and returned are one verb, and in the Greek the WEB translates it is the verb of the shepherds who "returned, glorifying and praising God" (2:20).

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Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions