- 1
- Jesus left the temple and was
walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its
buildings.
- 2
- "Do you see all these
things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will
be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
- 3
- As Jesus was sitting on the
Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us,"
they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your
coming and of the end of the age?"
- 4
- Jesus answered: "Watch
out that no one deceives you.
- 5
- For many will come in my name,
claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many.
- 6
- You will hear of wars and rumours
of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen,
but the end is still to come.
- 7
- Nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes
in various places.
- 8
- All these are the beginning of
birth pains.
- 9
- "Then you will be handed
over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations
because of me.
- 10
- At that time many will turn
away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
- 11
- and many false prophets will
appear and deceive many people.
- 12
- Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
- 13
- but he who stands firm to the
end will be saved.
- 14
- And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come.
- 15
- "So when you see standing
in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of
through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand--
- 16
- then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains.
- 17
- Let no one on the roof of his
house go down to take anything out of the house.
- 18
- Let no one in the field go
back to get his cloak.
- 19
- How dreadful it will be in
those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
- 20
- Pray that your flight will not
take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
- 21
- For then there will be great
distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to
be equalled again.
- 22
- If those days had not been cut
short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will
be shortened.
- 23
- At that time if anyone says to
you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do not believe it.
- 24
- For false Christs and false
prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even
the elect--if that were possible.
- 25
- See, I have told you ahead of
time.
- 26
- "So if anyone tells you,
`There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the
inner rooms,' do not believe it.
- 27
- For as lightning that comes
from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son
of Man.
- 28
- Wherever there is a carcass,
there the vultures will gather.
- 29
- "Immediately after the
distress of those days "`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly
bodies will be shaken.'
- 30
- "At that time the sign of
the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will
mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with
power and great glory.
- 31
- And he will send his angels
with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four
winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
- 32
- "Now learn this lesson
from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out,
you know that summer is near.
- 33
- Even so, when you see all
these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
- 34
- I tell you the truth, this
generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have
happened.
- 35
- Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away.
- 36
- "No one knows about that
day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father.
- 37
- As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
- 38
- For in the days before the
flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up
to the day Noah entered the ark;
- 39
- and they knew nothing about
what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how
it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
- 40
- Two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and the other left.
- 41
- Two women will be grinding
with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
- 42
- "Therefore keep watch,
because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
- 43
- But understand this: If the
owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he
would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
- 44
- So you also must be ready,
because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
- 45
- "Who then is the faithful
and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his
household to give them their food at the proper time?
- 46
- It will be good for that
servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
- 47
- I tell you the truth, he will
put him in charge of all his possessions.
- 48
- But suppose that servant is
wicked and says to himself, `My master is staying away a long time,'
- 49
- and he then begins to beat his
fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
- 50
- The master of that servant
will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not
aware of.
- 51
- He will cut him to pieces and
assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28