MarkChapter 13

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¹Jesus was leaving the temple. One of his disciples said to him, "Teacher, look at these huge stones and wonderful buildings!" ²"Do you see all these great buildings?" Jesus answered. "Not one stone here will be left on top of another. Every one will be thrown down." ³Later Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him in private, ⁴"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to come true?" ⁵Jesus began by telling them, "Be careful that no one fools you. ⁶Many will come in my name. They will say, 'I am he.' They will fool many people. ⁷You will hear about wars and stories of wars. Don't be afraid. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸Nation will fight against nation. Kingdom will fight against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many places. There will be times of hunger too. These are only the beginning of the birth pains. ⁹So watch out. People will hand you over to the councils. They will beat you in the synagogues. Because of me, you will stand in front of governors and kings. You will be witnesses to them. ¹⁰And first the good news must be preached to all the nations. ¹¹They will arrest you and hand you over. When they do, don't worry ahead of time about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at that time. For it will not be you speaking. It will be the Holy Spirit. ¹²Brother will hand over brother to be killed. A father will hand over his child. Children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³Everyone will hate you because of my name. But the one who keeps going to the end will be saved. ¹⁴You will see 'the horrible thing that destroys' standing where it should not be. (Let the reader understand.) When you see it, those in Judea must run away to the mountains.a ¹⁵Someone may be on the roof of his house. He must not go back inside to get anything from his house. ¹⁶Someone may be out in the field. He must not go back to get his cloak. ¹⁷How awful those days will be for women who are pregnant or nursing babies! ¹⁸Pray that this won't happen in the winter. ¹⁹For those will be days of terrible trouble. There has been nothing like it since God first made the world until now. And there will never be anything like it again. ²⁰If the Lord had not cut those days short, no one would be saved. But he has cut them short for the sake of the people he has chosen. ²¹At that time, if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or 'There he is!' don't believe it. ²²For false messiahs and false prophets will show up. They will do signs and wonders to fool even God's chosen people, if that were possible. ²³So watch out! I have told you everything ahead of time. ²⁴But in those days, after that time of trouble,
'The sun will grow dark,
and the moon will not give its light. ²⁵The stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.' ²⁶Then people will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. He will come with great power and glory. ²⁷He will send out the angels. They will gather his chosen people from the four winds. They will gather them from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. ²⁸Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. When its branches get soft and grow leaves, you know summer is near. ²⁹It's the same with you. When you see these things happening, you will know that he is near. He is right at the door. ³⁰I tell you the truth. This generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ³²No one knows the day or hour when it will happen. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son doesn't know. Only the Father knows. ³³Watch out! Stay awake! For you don't know when the time God has set will come. ³⁴It's like a man who goes on a trip. He leaves his house. He puts each of his servants in charge of their own job. He tells the man at the door to keep watch. ³⁵So keep watch, because you don't know when the owner of the house will come back. It might be in the evening or at midnight. It might be when the rooster crows or in the morning. ³⁶If not, he may come suddenly and find you sleeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep watch!"