Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 10:27
What I tell you in darkness, [that] speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, [that] preach ye upon the housetops.
27. what ye hear in the ear ] Lightfoot ( Hor. Heb.) refers this to a custom in the “Divinity School” of the synagogue (see ch. Mat 4:23), where the master whispered into the ear of the interpreter, who repeated in a loud voice what he had heard.
upon the housetops ] Travellers relate that in the village districts of Syria proclamations are frequently made from the housetops at the present day.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What I say to you in darkness … – That is, in secret, in private, in confidence. The private instructions which I give you while with me do you proclaim publicly, on the house-top. The house-top, the flat roof, was a public, conspicuous place. See 2Sa 16:22. See also the notes at Mat 9:1-8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 10:27
What I tell you in darkness.
Gods message and its proclamation
I. Here is A preparatory privilege for all Christians. What I tell you in darkness, and what ye hear in the ear.
1. It is the great privilege of Christians to realize that Christ is still living with and conversing with them; this consciousness fits for service.
2. Feeling the gospel spoken by Christ directly and distinctly to our own soul.
II. How this privilege really does become a preparatory process.
1. If you get your message directly from Christ there will be a personality about it.
2. It will also give us the truth of God in proportion and purity.
3. If you go to Christ for all you preach you will preach with unction.
4. It will enable you to be certain about the truth.
III. Close by trying to fulfil the command To publish upon the housetops what the master has spoken to us in secret.
1. That there is pardon for the greatest guilt.
2. That by faith the ruling power of sin is broken.
3. That faith in Christ can save a man from every sort of fear in life and death. These things have been whispered in my ear. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Proclamations from Housetops
On the occurrence of a death in the dwelling, mourners, especially priests, are stationed upon the housetops, and attract public attention by their lamentations. And a proclamation is often made, as well as an address to the people, from the flat roof of a government-house which looks down upon the median, or public square. Even the call to prayer is proclaimed from the housetop, where there is no minaret or church-bell. (Van Lennep.)
Illuminating words
You sometimes see a man in the community who is always a source of light to his fellow-citizens. His words cast their illumination round every subject. When a great crisis comes men stand and listen until they hear him speak, and when he has spoken the city knows its duty. But do we think that every conviction leaped in a moment into his consciousness? that he has never struggled into the certainties which he gave to other men so clearly? that it is not by some transmission through his experience, often clouded by doubt and bewilderment, that the abstract truth has passed into the clear, sharp, tangible statement of duty which his fellow citizens catch from him? But nowhere was this more evident than in the history of Christs disciples. Two books stand next to one another in the New Testament-The Gospel of St. John and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. What are the pictures in the two books? In the one the disciples are hearing Christ speak, and always missing His real meaning. Again and again, on page after page, we seem to see that wistful, disappointed look upon the Preachers face. They will not understand Him. He is speaking to them in darkness. In the other book those same apostles are preaching clear, strong, definite truth from Jerusalem to Rome; that which was vague and dim has passed into them and come out from them sharp and bright; the light has been focussed in their natures and characters, and the hearts of men are springing up under its influence as it comes to them. What Jesus had told them in darkness they are now speaking in light. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
There is a higher motive than fear, viz., trust in the Father who cares even for the sparrows. (Benham.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. What I tell you in darkness] A man ought to preach that only which he has learned from God’s Spirit, and his testimonies; but let him not pretend to bring forth any thing new, or mysterious. There is nothing that concerns our salvation that is newer than the new covenant; and in that there are, properly speaking, no mysteries: what was secret before is now made manifest in the Gospel of the ever-blessed God. See Eph 3:1-12.
What ye hear in the ear] The doctor who explained the law in Hebrew had an interpreter always by him, in whose ears he softly whispered what he said; this interpreter spoke aloud what had been thus whispered to him. Lightfoot has clearly proved this in his Horae Talmudicae, and to this custom our Lord here evidently alludes. The spirit of our Lord’s direction appears to be this: whatever I speak to you is for the benefit of mankind,-keep nothing from them, declare explicitly the whole counsel of God; preach ye, ( proclaim), on the house-tops. The houses in Judea were flat-roofed, with a ballustrade round about, which were used for the purpose of taking the air, prayer, meditation, and it seems, from this place, for announcing things in the most public manner. As there are no bells among the Turks, a crier proclaims all times of public worship from the house-tops. Whoever will give himself the trouble to consult the following scriptures will find a variety of uses to which these housetops were assigned. De 22:8; Jos 2:6; Jdg 9:51; Ne 8:16; 2Sa 11:2; 2Kg 23:12; Isa 15:3; Jer 32:29, and Ac 10:9.
Lightfoot thinks that this may be an allusion to that custom, when the minister of the synagogue, on the Sabbath eve, sounded with a trumpet six times, upon the roof of a very high house, that from thence all might have notice of the coming in of the Sabbath. The first blast signified that they should heave off their work in the field: the second that they should cease from theirs in the city: the third that they should light the Sabbath candle, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The candle of the gospel, which God hath by John the Baptist and me lighted up, is not to be hid; though therefore you have it from me in private, yet do you publish it. I do as it were whisper it in your ear by private discourses, and in a private converse, but it shall be made as public as if it were published to the greatest advantage; and do you contribute what you can unto it, do you publish my gospel as it were upon the house tops.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. What I tell you in darknessinthe privacy of a teaching for which men are not yet ripe.
that speak ye in thelightfor when ye go forth all will be ready.
and what ye hear in the ear,that preach ye upon the housetopsGive free and fearlessutterance to all that I have taught you while yet with you.Objection: But this may cost us our life? Answer: Itmay, but there their power ends:
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
What I tell you in darkness,…. Hence Christ proceeds to encourage his disciples to an open, plain, and faithful ministration of the Gospel, not fearing the faces and frowns of men. For with respect to the Gospel, his meaning is, that what was hid and covered should not remain so, but should be revealed, and made known, and they were the persons who were to do it; and it was with that view that he had communicated it to them: and whereas he had told them it “in darkness”; not in a dark and obscure manner; for though he spoke in parables to others, yet to them he made known the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: and if at any time he delivered parables, or dark sayings, to them, he would afterwards, or when alone, explain them to them; but his meaning chiefly is, that what he communicated to them in private houses, when they were by themselves, and no one saw, or heard them, and so were in darkness with respect to others,
that speak ye in light; openly and publicly in the synagogues and temple, in the high places of the city, streets, or fields, wherever there is a concourse of people; hide and conceal nothing, but speak out all clearly, distinctly, fully, without the least reserve, or throwing any obscurity on it, which may cover the true sense of it from the view of the people.
And what ye hear in the ear, or is whispered to you by me, as your master. Christ alludes to the custom of the Jewish doctors, who had each an interpreter, into whose ear he used to whisper his doctrine, and then the interpreter delivered it to the people: so it is said s,
“Rab came to the place of R. Shilla, and he had no speaker to stand by him; wherefore Rab stood by him, and explained.”
The gloss upon it is,
“an interpreter stands before a doctor whilst he is preaching, and the doctor , “whispers to him” in the Hebrew tongue, and he interprets it to the multitude in a tongue they understand.”
Again t,
“they said to Judah bar Nachmani, the interpreter of Resh Lekish, stand for a speaker for him.”
The gloss upon it is,
“to cause his exposition to be heard by the congregation,
, “which he shall whisper to thee”.”
Now it was absolutely requisite, that the speaker, or interpreter, should faithfully relate what the doctor said; sometimes, it seems, he did not: it is said u in commendation of the meekness of R. Aba,
“that he delivered one sense, and his speaker said another, and he was not angry.”
The gloss says,
“his speaker was, he that interpreted to the multitude what he , “whispered to him” in the time of preaching.”
Sometimes one doctor is said to whisper in the ear of another, when he instructed him, or informed him of anything. R. Jochanan w whispered R. Joshua , “in his ear”. The Jews have a notion that the law was given this way; so they interpret “the eloquent orator” in Isa 3:3 x this is he to whom it is fit to deliver the words of the law, , “which was given by whispering”: and so, it seems, the Gospel was in like manner delivered by Christ to his disciples. It was reckoned a very great honour, and a token of magisterial dignity, to have one to whisper in the ear to, and speak for them. So to one that related his dream, that he saw an ass standing at his pillow, and braying, answer is made, thou shalt be a king, that is, the head of a school; and “a speaker” or “an interpreter shall stand by thee” y. Our Lord very justly takes upon him the character of a doctor, master, and dictator, and solemnly charges his disciples, clearly, loudly, and faithfully to declare what he suggested to them.
That preach ye, says he,
upon the housetops; for the roofs of their houses were not ridged, but plain, and flat, upon which they could stand or walk; and battlements were made about them to prevent their falling off, according to the law in De 22:8. Here many religious actions were performed: here Peter went up to pray, Ac 10:9 and here persons sometimes sat and read: hence that passage in the Misna z if any one , “was reading on the top of a roof”, and the book is rolled out of his hand, c. and sometimes they made their proclamations from hence of their festivals and solemn days, and particularly of their sabbath which was done by the sound of a trumpet, that the people might cease from work in the fields, and shut up their shops in the city, and light up their lamps. This proclamation, by the sound of a trumpet, was made six times by the chazan, or minister of the congregation, from an housetop; and, it is said, that there was, , “a peculiar roof in the highest part of the city”, and from the middle of it he blew the trumpet a. In allusion to this, our Lord orders his disciples to blow the trumpet of the everlasting Gospel; and loudly proclaim to all the truths and mysteries of grace, which he had made known to them.
s T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 20. 2. t T. Bab. Sanhed. fol. 7. 2. u T. Bab. Sota, fol. 40. 1. w T. Hieros Kiddushin, fol. 65. 4. x T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 14. 1. y T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 56. 1. z Erubin, c. 10. sect. 3. a T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 35. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Preach [] . Better Rev., proclaim. See on Mt 4:17.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “What I tell you in darkness,” (he lego humin en te skotia) “Whatever I say to you all in the darkness,” or in privacy, in person, apart from the other disciples and the mixed multitudes or by my word and spirit, is for your profit and those to whom I send you, Luk 10:23.
2) “That speak ye in light:” (eipate en to phote) “You tell it, or speak it forth in the light, publicly,” Act 5:20; Col 1:23. Bear the message, my word, my seed, my bread of life to the hungry, starving, and dying. Speak, tell the message that I give to you, Joh 8:12; Mat 28:18-20.
3) “And what ye hear in the ear,” (kai ho eis to ous akouete) “And what you hear in the ear or by ear from me,” privately, even whispered to you for the moment.
4) “That preach ye upon the housetops.” (keruksate epi ton domaton) “Preach or proclaim it from the housetops,” from the domes of houses, that the message may go out as far, and be heard by as many as possible. Tell it as publicly, as widely, and as fearlessly as you can, Mat 5:15-16; Act 1:8; 2Co 5:14-21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(27) What I tell you in darkness.The words point to our Lords method of teaching, as well as to the fact of its being esoteric, and disclosed only to the chosen few, and to them only as they were able to bear it (Joh. 16:12). Parables, and dark sayings, and whispered hints, and many-sided proverbs, were among the forms by which He led them on to truth. They, in their work as teachers, were not to shrink through any fear of man from giving publicity to what they had thus learnt. To proclaim on the housetopsthe flat roofs of which were often actually used by criers and heralds for their announcementsis, of course, a natural figure for the fullest boldness and freedom in their preaching.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. What I tell you in darkness My words uttered in privacy, or enveloped in parables, shall also come forth. As their deeds are to come to the light of condemnation, so my Gospel shall come forth to publication, to vindication, and to victory. That speak ye Be ye its publishers. In light In publicity. So far from allowing persecution to suppress the word, carry it forth from this preparatory retirement and proclaim it to the world. Hear in the ear The pupil of the rabbi held his ear intent to receive the utterances of his master. Upon the housetops It is still a custom in the East to make public proclamation to the city from a housetop. Dr. Thomson says: “At the present day local governors in country districts cause their commands thus to be published. Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the people have returned from their labours in the field. The public crier ascends the highest roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“What I tell you in the darkness, speak you in the light, and what you hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”
So what He is telling them ‘in the darkness’ they must speak out in places where all can see, and what He as it were whispers in their ear they are to yell out from the housetops. For that indeed is the purpose for which He has called them. It is in order that they might be His witnesses. News was regularly literally shouted from high housetops so that it could reach as many as possible.
The reference to darkness and light looks back to Mat 4:16. ‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death life has sprung up.’ Jesus here confirms that Matthew has taken that idea from His own teaching (as well as from Isa 9:2). His disciples had been in darkness, but He has come as a light to speak to them in the darkness (compare Joh 3:19-21) so that they might become a light to others (Mat 5:14; Mat 5:16). As the light of the world (Joh 8:12) He has spoken to them in the darkness, so that they might be filled with light (Mat 6:22).
The ‘hearing ear’ is also a favourite idea of Jesus (Mat 13:16, contrast Mat 13:14-15. See also Mat 13:43; Luk 14:35; and compare Mar 4:18; Mar 4:20; Mar 4:24; Luk 8:18). What you hear in the ear is an indirect way of saying ‘what God has said in your ear’ in a similar way to the divine passive.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 10:27. What I tell you in darkness That is, in private. In the light, means in public. In the next words our Lord alludes to a custom among the Jews, whose teachers were accustomed to have their interpreters, who received the dictates of their masters whispered in the ear, and then publicly proposed them to all. The last words, that preach ye upon the house-tops, refers to another custom of making things public, by proclaiming them on the flat roofs of the houses in the East. The Mollahs among the Turks at this day proclaim on the top of their mosques, that “God is great, and Mahomet is his prophet,” as a signal for the people to come to public prayers. See on ch. Mat 24:17 and Wynne’s new translation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Ver. 27. What I tell you in darkness, &c. ] q.d. See that ye be valiant and violent for the truth: declare unto the world all the counsel of God, which you have therefore learned in private, that ye may teach in public, not fearing any colours, much less stealing from your colours, Heb 10:38 . a Quas non oportet mortes praeeligere, quod non supplicium potius ferre, immo in quam profundam inferni abyssum non intrare, quam contra conscientiam attestari? saith Zwinglius (Epist. tertia). A man had better endure any misery than an enraged conscience.
a ’ Steal from his captain.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27. ] An expansion of the duty of freeness and boldness of speech implied in the last verse . The words may bear two meanings: either (1) that which Chrysostom gives, taking the expressions relatively, , “ ,” “ ,” , Hom. xxxiv. 2, p. 390; or (2) as this part of the discourse relates to the future principally, the secret speaking may mean the communication which our Lord would hold with them hereafter by His Spirit, which they were to preach and proclaim. See Act 4:20 . These senses do not exclude one another, and are possibly both implied.
There is no need, with Lightfoot and others, to suppose any allusion to a custom in the synagogue, in the words . They are a common expression derived from common life: we have it in a wider sense Act 11:22 , and Gen 50:4 .
. ] On the flat roofs of the houses. Thus we have in Josephus, . B. J. ii. 21. 5.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 10:27 . , the darkness of the initial stage; the beginnings of great epoch-making movements always obscure. , the light of publicity, when causes begin to make a noise in the wide world. : a phrase current among Greeks for confidential communications. For such communications to disciples the Rabbis used the term , to whisper. may be understood = what ye hear spoken into the ear. , on the roofs; not a likely platform from our western point of view, but the flat -roofed houses of the East are in view. in classics means house; in Sept [67] and N. T., the flat roof of a house; in modern Greek, terrace. Vide Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek , p. 121. , proclaim with loud voice, suitable to your commanding position, wide audience, and great theme.
[67] Septuagint.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
darkness = the darkness.
that. For this word italics are not needed.
light = the light.
hear in the ear. A Hebraism. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6. Compare Gen 20:8; Gen 23:16. Exo 10:2. Isa 5:9. Act 11:22.
in = into. Greek. eis.
upon. Greek. epi. App-104.
housetops. The usual place of proclamation.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] An expansion of the duty of freeness and boldness of speech implied in the last verse. The words may bear two meanings: either (1) that which Chrysostom gives, taking the expressions relatively, , , , , Hom. xxxiv. 2, p. 390; or (2) as this part of the discourse relates to the future principally, the secret speaking may mean the communication which our Lord would hold with them hereafter by His Spirit, which they were to preach and proclaim. See Act 4:20. These senses do not exclude one another, and are possibly both implied.
There is no need, with Lightfoot and others, to suppose any allusion to a custom in the synagogue, in the words . They are a common expression derived from common life: we have it in a wider sense Act 11:22, and Gen 50:4.
.] On the flat roofs of the houses. Thus we have in Josephus, . B. J. ii. 21. 5.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 10:27. , ear) sc. one, secretly.- , on the housetops) A flat place, where men might converse, or even assemble as an audience: cf. 2Sa 16:22.[489]
[489] He desires them to banish all fear from their minds.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
I tell: Mat 13:1-17, Mat 13:34, Mat 13:35, Luk 8:10, Joh 16:1, Joh 16:13, Joh 16:25, Joh 16:29, 2Co 3:12
that preach: Pro 1:20-23, Pro 8:1-5, Act 5:20, Act 5:28, Act 17:17
Reciprocal: Deu 22:8 – thy roof 1Sa 9:25 – the top 2Sa 11:2 – the roof of Psa 119:13 – I declared Pro 1:21 – General Pro 15:7 – lips Isa 48:6 – and will Jer 19:2 – and proclaim Eze 40:4 – behold Mat 24:17 – the housetop Mar 4:22 – General Luk 5:19 – housetop Luk 11:33 – may see Luk 12:3 – housetops Eph 3:9 – to Eph 6:20 – boldly Phi 2:16 – Holding Col 4:4 – I may Rev 14:6 – preach Rev 22:10 – Seal
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:27
Darkness and light are used figuratively, and have the same meaning as the next clause. Jesus taught his apostles many things while they were alone with him, and they were then expected to tell them to others publicly. The housetops were fiat in those times and used very much in the same manner a& our verandas or sidewalks. (See Deu 22:8; Mat 24:17; Act 10:9.) That would give the apostles an opportunity to preach to the people in a public manner.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
[What ye hear in the ear.] We have observed before, that allusion is here made to the manner of the schools, where the doctor whispered, out of the chair, into the ear of the interpreter, and he with a loud voice repeated to the whole school that which was spoken in the ear.
“They said to Judah Bar Nachmani, the interpreter of Resh Lachish, Do you stand for his expositor.” The Gloss is, “To tell out the exposition to the synagogue, which he shall whisper to you.” We cannot here but repeat that which we produced before, The doctor whispered him in the ear in Hebrew. And we cannot but suspect that that custom in the church of Corinth which the apostle reproves, of speaking in the synagogue in an unknown tongue, were some footsteps of this custom.
We read of whispering in the ear done in another sense, namely, to a certain woman with child, which longed for the perfumed flesh; “Therefore Rabbis said, Go whisper her that it is the day of Expiation. They whispered to her, and she was whispered “: that is, she was satisfied and at quiet.
[Preach ye upon the housetops.] Perhaps allusion is made to that custom when the minister of the synagogue on the sabbath-eve sounded with a trumpet six times upon the roof of an exceeding high house, that thence all might have notice of the coming in of the sabbath. The first sound was, that they should cease from their works in the fields; the second, that they should cease from theirs in the city; the third, that they should light the sabbath candle, etc.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 10:27. What I tell you in the darkness, etc. A further incitement to boldness in preaching. Our Lord must first privately teach, so as to train His disciples; to them the duty of publishing the truth was committed. The verse probably alludes both to the extension of the gospel beyond the narrow limits of Palestine; and also to the future revelation by the Holy Spirit, in the ear, which was to be made known everywhere by the Apostles.
Housetops. From the flat roofs of the Eastern houses with a loud voice the greatest publicity could be obtained. The whole truth is to be publicly made known.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 10:27-28. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light The doctrines of the gospel which I deliver to you in private, and in obscure parables, preach plainly and openly, without the fear of man, in the audience of all. And what ye hear, as it were whispered, in the ear, preach ye Proclaim publicly, as though you addressed multitudes, from the house-tops. Two customs of the Jews seem to be alluded to here. Their doctors used to whisper in the ear of their disciples what they were to pronounce aloud to others. And as their houses were low and flat-roofed, they sometimes preached to the people from thence. And, according to Hegesippus, they carried James the Just to the top of the temple to preach to the people at the passover. And fear not them that kill the body Be not afraid of any thing which ye may suffer for proclaiming it, even though the boldness of your testimony should at length cost you your lives: for they who kill the body, are not able to kill, or hurt, the soul The spiritual and immaterial part of you: this will still survive in all its vigour, while its tabernacle lies in ruins. So Dr. Doddridge, who justly observes, These words contain a certain argument to prove the existence of the soul in a separate state, and its perception of that existence; else the soul would be as properly killed as the body. On this argument Dr. Whitby enlarges as follows: These words contain a certain evidence that the soul dies not with the body, but continued afterward in a state of sensibility: for that which, it is allowed, men can do to the body, it is denied that they can do to the soul. But, if by killing the body men could make the soul also to perish till the reunion and reviviscence both of body and soul; or, if by killing the body they could render the soul insensible, or deprive it of all power of thinking or perceiving any thing, they would kill the soul; for it is not easy to conceive how an intelligent, thinking, and perceiving being can be more killed than by depriving it of all sensation, thought, and perception; the body itself being killed by a total privation of sense and motion. It remains, that the soul doth not perish with the body, nor is it reduced into an insensible state by the death thereof. Add to this, our Lord may well be supposed to speak here as the Jews would certainly understand his words; now they would certainly thus understand him, it being their received opinion, [namely, that of the Pharisees,] that the soul, after the death of the body, is in bliss or misery, and therefore continues in a state of sensibility. But, fear him, &c. Fear lest, being unfaithful in so important a trust, you should incur the displeasure of Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Who has power to fill the separate spirit with unspeakable anguish, and at the final judgment to reunite it to the body, and to condemn both to everlasting misery in that infernal prison. It must be observed, that instead of , to kill, the word , to destroy, is used in this second clause, which also often signifies to torment. What an awful verse is this before us! How fit is it that this eternal and almighty God should be the object of our humble fear! and that in comparison of him we should fear nothing else! All the terrors and all the flatteries of the world are disarmed by this! an idea which, in every state of life, should engage us to be faithful to God; so shall we be most truly faithful to ourselves.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 27
In darkness; privately.–Upon the house-tops; in the most public manner.
Matthew 10:35,36. That is, these will be the effects or consequences of my coming.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
10:27 What I tell you in darkness, [that] speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, [that] preach ye upon the {m} housetops.
(m) Openly, and in the highest places. For the tops of their houses were made in such a way that they might walk upon them; Act 10:9 .