Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Alternative: And but for those days of mutilation, all flesh should be saved: but throughout those doys of mutilation the elect [are saved] .

As I go along translating from the Greek and find alternative meanings that add to the meaning ofr Christ's words, I sometimes worry that the next verse won't fit where my interpretation has taken me. My biggest surprise has been that, when I look at the Greek of that next verse, the problem that I thought was coming always vanishes.

In this verse, the discovery was particularly shocking. The original Greek reads the opposite the English translation. What is rendered in KJV as "no flesh" is in reality "all flesh." The Greek word, pas, is translated in the NT as "all" 748 times, as "all things" 170 times, as "every" 117 times, as "all men" 41 times, and so on : "whosoever" 31 times, "everyone" 28 times, "whole" 12 times, "all manner of" 11 times, "every man" 11 times, "every thing" 7 times, "any" 7 times, "whatsoever" 6 times, and "any thing" twice. So here, in this one situation, it suddenly means "no."

Earlier in this chapter (Mat 24:13) that only those who endure to the end shall be saved. Here, Christ says that everyone can survive normal times. Only the elect can save difficult times.

"Shorten" is from koloboô, which means "to dock," "to curtail," and "to mutilate." Kolobôsis menas "mutilation."

"No" is from pas, which means "all," "the whole," "every," "anyone," "all kinds," and "anything."

"Save" is from sôizô (sozo), which means "save from death," "keep alive," "keep safe," "preserve," "maintain," "keep in mind," "carry off safely," and "rescue."