^24:23Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’³¹ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. ^24:24For false messiahs³² and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ^24:25Remember,³³ I have told you ahead of time. ^24:26So then, if someone³⁴ says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’³⁵ do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. ^24:27For just like the lightning³⁶ comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. ^24:28Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures³⁷ will gather.³⁸

The Arrival of the Son of Man

^24:29“Immediately³⁹ after the suffering⁴⁰ of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.⁴¹^24:30Then⁴² the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,⁴³ and⁴⁴ all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They⁴⁵ will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven⁴⁶ with power and great glory. ^24:31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven⁴⁷ to the other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

^24:32“Learn⁴⁸ this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ^24:33So also you, when you see all these things, know⁴⁹ that he is near, right at the door. ^24:34I tell you the truth,⁵⁰ this generation⁵¹ will not pass away until all these things take place.

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Footnotes

31 Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” See the note on Christ in .
32 Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
33 Or “Pay attention!” Grk “Behold.”
34 Grk “they say.” The third person plural is used here as an indefinite and translated “someone” ( ).
35 Or “in the desert.”
36 The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning. No one will need to point it out.
37 The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers. Jesus’ answer is that when the judgment comes, the scenes of death will be obvious and so will the location of the judgment. See also Luke 17:37.
38 Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.
39 Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
40 Traditionally, “tribulation.”
41 An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (); Joel 2:10. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” ) this is not as likely.
42 Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
43 Or “in the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.
44 Here τότε (tote, “then”) has not been translated to avoid redundancy in English.
45 Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
46 An allusion to Dan 7:13. Here is Jesus returning with full authority to judge.
47 Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.
48 Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
49 The verb γινώσκετε (ginōskete, “know”) can be parsed as either present indicative or present imperative. In this context the imperative fits better, since the movement is from analogy (trees and seasons) to the future (the signs of the coming of the kingdom) and since the emphasis is on preparation for this event.
50 Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
51 This is one of the hardest verses in the gospels to interpret. Various views exist for what generation means. (1) Some take it as meaning “race” and thus as an assurance that the Jewish race (nation) will not pass away. But it is very questionable that the Greek term γενεά (genea) can have this meaning. Two other options are possible. (2) Generation might mean “this type of generation” and refer to the generation of wicked humanity. Then the point is that humanity will not perish, because God will redeem it. Or (3) generation may refer to “the generation that sees the signs of the end” (v. 30), who will also see the end itself. In other words, once the movement to the return of Christ starts, all the events connected with it happen very quickly, in rapid succession.