Mark 13:14–14:31

¹⁴“But ^awhen you see the ^babomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁵“^aThe one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house;

¹⁶and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

¹⁷“But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

¹⁸“But pray that it may not happen in the winter.

¹⁹“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred ^asince the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.

²⁰“Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no ¹life would have been saved; but for the sake of the ²elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

²¹“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is ¹the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him;

²²for false Christs and ^afalse prophets will arise, and will show ^1bsigns and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

²³“But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.

The Return of Christ

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, ^athe sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light,

^25aand the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in ¹the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶“Then they will see ^athe Son of Man ^bcoming in clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷“And then He will send forth the angels, and ^awill gather together His ¹elect from the four winds, ^bfrom the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

²⁸“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

²⁹“Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right at the ³door.

³⁰“Truly I say to you, this ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³¹“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³²“^aBut of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“Take heed, ^akeep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time ¹will come.

³⁴“^aIt is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and ¹putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.

³⁵“Therefore, ^abe on the alert—for you do not know when the ¹master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or ^bwhen the rooster crows, or ^cin the morning—

³⁶in case he should come suddenly and find you ^aasleep.

³⁷“What I say to you I say to all, ‘^aBe on the alert!’ ”

Chapter 14

^1aNow ^bthe Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes ^cwere seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him;

²for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”

^3aWhile He was in ^bBethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very ^ccostly perfume of pure ¹nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.

⁴But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted?

⁵“For this perfume might have been sold for over three hundred ¹denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her.

⁶But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me.

⁷“For you always have ^athe poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.

⁸“She has done what she could; ^ashe has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.

⁹“Truly I say to you, ^awherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

^10aThen Judas Iscariot, ^bwho was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to ¹betray Him to them.

¹¹They were glad when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.

The Last Passover

^12aOn the first day of ^bUnleavened Bread, when ¹the Passover lamb was being ^csacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

¹³And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him;

¹⁴and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My ^aguest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’

¹⁵“And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.”

¹⁶The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

^17aWhen it was evening He came with the twelve.

¹⁸As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will ¹betray Me—²one who is eating with Me.”

¹⁹They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰And He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, ¹one who dips with Me in the bowl.

²¹“For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man ¹by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good ²for that man if he had not been born.”

The Lord’s Supper

^22aWhile they were eating, He took some bread, and ¹after a ^bblessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”

²³And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴And He said to them, “This is My ^ablood of the ^bcovenant, which is poured out for many.

²⁵“Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

^26aAfter singing a hymn, they went out to ^bthe Mount of Olives.

^27aAnd Jesus said to them, “You will all ¹fall away, because it is written, ‘^bI will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’

²⁸“But after I have been raised, ^aI will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

²⁹But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may ¹fall away, yet I will not.”

³⁰And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that ^1athis very night, before ^ba rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.”

³¹But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.