Matthew 24

Chapter 24

Signs of Christ’s Return

^1aJesus ^bcame out from the temple and was going away ¹when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

²And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^anot one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³As He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^bYour coming, and of the ¹end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “^aSee to it that no one misleads you.

⁵“For ^amany will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ¹Christ,’ and will mislead many.

⁶“You will be hearing of ^awars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

⁷“For ^anation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^bfamines and earthquakes.

⁸“^aBut all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹“^aThen they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and ^byou will be hated by all nations because of My name.

¹⁰“At that time many will ^1afall away and will ²betray one another and hate one another.

¹¹“Many ^afalse prophets will arise and will mislead many.

¹²“Because lawlessness is increased, ¹most people’s love will grow cold.

¹³“^aBut the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

¹⁴“This ^agospel of the kingdom ^bshall be preached in the whole ^1cworld as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Perilous Times

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ^aabomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^bthe holy place (^clet the reader understand),

¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁷“¹Whoever is on ^athe housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house.

¹⁸“¹Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁹“But ^awoe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

²⁰“But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

²¹“For then there will be a ^agreat tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

²²“Unless those days had been cut short, no ¹life would have been saved; but for ^athe sake of the ²elect those days will be cut short.

²³“^aThen if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ,’ or ‘²There He is,’ do not believe him.

²⁴“For false Christs and ^afalse prophets will arise and will ¹show great ^2bsigns and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even ^cthe ³elect.

²⁵“Behold, I have told you in advance.

²⁶“So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.

²⁷“^aFor just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the ^bcoming of the ^cSon of Man be.

²⁸“^aWherever the corpse is, there the ¹vultures will gather.

The Glorious Return

²⁹“But immediately after the ^atribulation of those days ^bthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^cthe stars will fall from ¹the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰“And then ^athe sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^bthe Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

³¹“And ^aHe will send forth His angels with ^ba great trumpet and they will gather together His ^1celect from ^dthe four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Parable of the Fig Tree

³²“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;

³³so, you too, when you see all these things, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right ^aat the ³door.

³⁴“Truly I say to you, ^athis ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³⁵“^aHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But ^aof that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³⁷“For ¹the ^acoming of the Son of Man will be ^bjust like the days of Noah.

³⁸“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^amarrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^bNoah entered the ark,

³⁹and they did not ¹understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^acoming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰“Then there will be two men in the field; one ¹will be taken and one will be left.

⁴¹“^aTwo women will be grinding at the ^1bmill; one ²will be taken and one will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴²“Therefore ^abe on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

⁴³“But ¹be sure of this, that ^aif the head of the house had known ^bat what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be ²broken into.

⁴⁴“For this reason ^ayou also must be ready; for ^bthe Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“^aWho then is the ^bfaithful and ^csensible slave whom his ¹master ^dput in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶“Blessed is that slave whom his ¹master finds so doing when he comes.

⁴⁷“Truly I say to you that ^ahe will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁸“But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ¹master ²is not coming for a long time,’

⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;

⁵⁰the ¹master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

⁵¹and will ¹cut him in pieces and ²assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^aweeping and gnashing of teeth.