Chapter 24

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came to point out the temple buildings to him.

2Jesus answered them, “Do you see all these buildings? I assure you, not one stone here will be left on another. Every stone will be torn down.”

3While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and asked, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What sign will show that you are coming and that this age is reaching its end?”

4Jesus answered, “Make sure no one deceives you.

5Many will come claiming my identity and saying, ‘I am the Messiah, God’s promised king.’ They will deceive many people.

6You will hear about wars and reports of wars, but do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end has not yet come.

7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

8All this is only the beginning, like the first pains of childbirth.

9Then people will hand you over to suffer and will kill you. People from every nation will hate you because you belong to me.

10Then many will turn away. They will betray one another and hate one another.

11Many people will falsely claim to speak for God, and they will deceive many others.

12Because wrongdoing will become so widespread, the love of most people will grow cold.

13But whoever holds firm to the end will be rescued.

14This good news about God’s kingdom—his rule over the world—will be announced throughout the whole inhabited world as a public declaration to every nation. Then the end will come.

15Jesus continued, “So when you see ‘the appalling desecration that brings devastation,’ which the prophet Daniel spoke about, standing in a holy place—anyone reading this should understand—

16then the people in Judea must flee to the mountains.

17Anyone on a rooftop must not go down to get anything from inside the house.

18Anyone in the field must not turn back to get an outer garment.

19How terrible those days will be for pregnant women and mothers nursing babies!

20Pray that you will not have to flee during winter or on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest.

21Then there will be terrible suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, and nothing like it will ever happen again.

22If those days were not cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the people God has chosen, those days will be cut short.

23Jesus continued, “If anyone then tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

24False messiahs and people who falsely claim to speak for God will appear. They will perform spectacular signs and astonishing acts to deceive, if possible, even the people God has chosen.

25Remember, I have told you ahead of time.

26So if people tell you, ‘Look, he is out in the wilderness,’ do not go out there. If they say, ‘Look, he is hidden in an inner room,’ do not believe them.

27Just as lightning flashes from east to west, the coming of the Son of Man will be visible to everyone.

28Wherever a corpse lies, vultures will gather.

29Jesus continued, “Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Every people group on earth will beat their chests in grief. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31He will send out his angels with a mighty trumpet blast. They will gather the people he has chosen from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32Jesus continued, “Learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branches become tender and begin growing leaves, you know that summer is near.

33In the same way, when you see all these things, know that the time is near—right at the door.

34I assure you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.

35Heaven and earth will pass away, but what I have said will never pass away.

36Jesus continued, “No one knows the day or hour when this will happen—not the angels in heaven or even the Son. Only God the Father knows.

37The coming of the Son of Man will be like the days of Noah.

38In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, getting married and arranging marriages, right up to the day Noah entered the ark.

39They remained unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. The coming of the Son of Man will be like that.

40At that time, two people will be in a field. One will be taken, and the other will be left.

41Two women will be grinding grain at a mill. One will be taken, and the other will be left.

42So stay alert, because you do not know what day your master is coming.

43Understand this: if a homeowner knew what time during the night a thief was coming, he would stay awake and would not let the thief break into his house.

44You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come when you do not expect him.

45Jesus continued, “Who, then, is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household to give the other servants their food at the proper time?

46That slave is truly fortunate if his master returns and finds him doing his work.

47I assure you, the master will put that slave in charge of everything he owns.

48But suppose the evil slave thinks, ‘My master is taking a long time,’

49and begins beating the other slaves while eating and drinking with people who get drunk.

50That slave’s master will return on a day when the slave does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.

51The master will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites. There people will weep and grind their teeth in anguish.”