MatthewChapter 24

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¹Jesus left the temple and was walking away. His disciples came up to him. They wanted to point out the temple buildings to him. ²"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, 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. The disciples came to him alone. "Tell us," they said. "When will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" ⁴Jesus answered, "Be careful that no one fools you. ⁵This is because many will come in my name. They will say, 'I am the Messiah.' And they will fool many people. ⁶You will hear of wars and stories about wars. But make sure you are not afraid. These things must happen. But the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be times of hunger and earthquakes in many places. ⁸All these things are only the beginning of the birth pains. ⁹Then people will hand you over to be hurt and killed. All nations will hate you because of my name. ¹⁰At that time many will fall away from the faith. They will turn on each other and hate each other. ¹¹Many false prophets will rise up and fool many people. ¹²Evil will grow more and more. Because of this, the love of most people will grow cold. ¹³But the one who keeps going to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world. It will be told to all nations as a witness. Then the end will come. ¹⁵The prophet Daniel spoke of 'the awful thing that brings ruin.' So when you see it standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),a ¹⁶then those who are in Judea must run away to the mountains. ¹⁷Anyone on the roof must not go down to get anything from his house. ¹⁸Anyone in the field must not go back for his coat. ¹⁹How awful those days will be for women who are pregnant or nursing babies! ²⁰Pray that you will not have to run away in the winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹This is because at that time there will be great trouble. Nothing like it has happened from the beginning of the world until now. And nothing like it will ever happen again. ²²If those days had not been made shorter, no one would be saved. But those days will be made shorter for the sake of God's chosen people. ²³At that time someone may say to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' Or, 'There he is!' Do not believe it. ²⁴This is because false messiahs and false prophets will come. They will do great signs and wonders. They will try to fool even God's chosen people, if that were possible. ²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time. ²⁶So if they tell you, 'There he is, out in the wilderness,' do not go out there. Or if they say, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. ²⁷Lightning flashes in the east and shines all the way to the west. Just like that, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather there. ²⁹Right after the trouble of those days,
'The sun will be made dark.
The moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall from the sky.
And the powers of the heavens will be shaken.' ³⁰At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky. He will come with power and great glory. ³¹He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call. They will gather his chosen people from the four winds. They will gather them from one end of the heavens to the other. ³²Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. When its branches get soft and grow leaves, you know summer is near. ³³It's the same with you. When you see all these things, you will know that he is near. He is right at the door. ³⁴I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away. But my words will never pass away. ³⁶No one knows the day or hour when it will happen. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know either. Only the Father knows. ³⁷Think of how it was in the days of Noah. It will be the same when the Son of Man comes. ³⁸In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking. They were getting married and giving their children in marriage. They kept on doing this up to the day Noah went into the ark. ³⁹They had no idea what was coming until the flood came and swept them all away. That's how it will be when the Son of Man comes. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding grain at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. ⁴²So keep watch, because you do not know the day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this. Suppose the owner of a house had known what time of night the thief was coming. Then he would have stayed awake. He would not have let his house be broken into.b ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. ⁴⁵Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? His master has put him in charge of the house. He is to give the other servants their food at the right time. ⁴⁶That servant is blessed if his master comes back and finds him doing his job. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of everything he owns. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked. He says to himself, 'My master will be gone a long time.' ⁴⁹Then he begins to beat the other servants. He eats and drinks with drunks. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect. He will come at an hour he does not know. ⁵¹Then the master will cut him to pieces. He will give him a place with the hypocrites. There people will weep and grind their teeth.