Matthew 24

¹ Jesus left the Temple, and as he was going away his disciples came up to draw his attention to theTemple buildings.

² He said to them in reply, 'You see al these? In truth I tell you, not a single stone here wil be left onanother: everything will be pul ed down.'

³ And while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came and asked him when they were bythemselves, 'Tel us, when is this going to happen, and what sign wil there be of your coming and of the end ofthe world?'

⁴ And Jesus answered them, 'Take care that no one deceives you,

⁵ because many wil come using my name and saying, "I am the Christ," and they will deceive many.

⁶ You wil hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this is something thatmust happen, but the end wil not be yet.

⁷ For nation wil fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There wil be famines andearthquakes in various places.

⁸ All this is only the beginning of the birthpangs.

⁹ 'Then you wil be handed over to be tortured and put to death; and you will be hated by all nations onaccount of my name.

¹⁰ And then many wil fall away; people wil betray one another and hate one another.

¹¹ Many false prophets wil arise; they will deceive many,

¹² and with the increase of lawlessness, love in most people wil grow cold;

¹³ but anyone who stands firm to the end wil be saved.

¹⁴ 'This good news of the kingdom wil be proclaimed to the whole world as evidence to the nations. Andthen the end wil come.

¹⁵ 'So when you see the appal ing abomination, of which the prophet Daniel spoke, set up in the holyplace (let the reader understand),

¹⁶ then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains;

¹⁷ if anyone is on the housetop, he must not come down to col ect his belongings from the house;

¹⁸ if anyone is in the fields, he must not turn back to fetch his cloak.

¹⁹ Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come!

²⁰ Pray that you will not have to make your escape in winter or on a Sabbath.

²¹ For then there will be great distress, unparalleled since the world began, and such as wil never beagain.

²² And if that time had not been shortened, no human being would have survived; but shortened thattime shal be, for the sake of those who are chosen.

²³ 'If anyone says to you then, "Look, here is the Christ," or "Over here," do not believe it;

²⁴ for false Christs and false prophets wil arise and provide great signs and portents, enough to deceiveeven the elect, if that were possible.

²⁵ Look! I have given you warning.

²⁶ 'If, then, they say to you, "Look, he is in the desert," do not go there; "Look, he is in some hiding place," do not believe it;

²⁷ because the coming of the Son of man wil be like lightning striking in the east and flashing far intothe west.

²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, that is where the vultures wil gather.

²⁹ 'Immediately after the distress of those days the sun wil be darkened, the moon wil not give its light,the stars wil fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens wil be shaken.

³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of man wil appear in heaven; then, too, all the peoples of the earth wilbeat their breasts; and they wil see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet to gather his elect from the four winds, from one endof heaven to the other.

³² 'Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you knowthat summer is near.

³³ So with you when you see al these things: know that he is near, right at the gates.

³⁴ In truth I tel you, before this generation has passed away, al these things wil have taken place.

³⁵ Sky and earth will pass away, but my words wil never pass away.

³⁶ But as for that day and hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one butthe Father alone.

³⁷ 'As it was in Noah's day, so wil it be when the Son of man comes.

³⁸ For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, rightup to the day Noah went into the ark,

³⁹ and they suspected nothing til the Flood came and swept them al away. This is what it wil be likewhen the Son of man comes.

⁴⁰ Then of two men in the fields, one is taken, one left;

⁴¹ of two women grinding at the mil , one is taken, one left.

⁴² 'So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming.

⁴³ You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglarwould come, he would have stayed awake and would not have al owed anyone to break through the wal of hishouse.

⁴⁴ Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do notexpect.

⁴⁵ 'Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy servant whom the master placed over his household to givethem their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶ Blessed that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that.

⁴⁷ In truth I tel you, he will put him in charge of everything he owns.

⁴⁸ But if the servant is dishonest and says to himself, "My master is taking his time,"

⁴⁹ and sets about beating his fellow-servants and eating and drinking with drunkards,

⁵⁰ his master wil come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know.

⁵¹ The master wil cut him off and send him to the same fate as the hypocrites, where there wil beweeping and grinding of teeth.'