Matthew 24:15–31

The Awful Horror

^15*“You will see ‘The Awful Horror’ of which the prophet Daniel spoke. It will be standing in the holy place.” (Note to the reader: be sure to understand what this means!) ¹⁶“Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills. ^17*Someone who is on the roof of his house must not take the time to go down and get his belongings from the house. ^18*Someone who is in the field must not go back to get his cloak. ¹⁹How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! ²⁰Pray to God that you will not have to run away during the winter or on a Sabbath! ^21*For the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there has ever been, from the beginning of the world to this very day. Nor will there ever be anything like it again. ²²But God has already reduced the number of days; had he not done so, nobody would survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, God will reduce the days.

²³“Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. ²⁴For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God’s chosen people, if possible. ²⁵Listen! I have told you this before the time comes.

^26*“Or, if people should tell you, ‘Look, he is out in the desert!’—don’t go there; or if they say, ‘Look, he is hiding here!’—don’t believe it. ^27*For the Son of Man will come like the lightning which flashes across the whole sky from the east to the west.

^28*“Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

^29*“Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. ^30*Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹The great trumpet will sound, and he will send out his angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the world to the other.