⁸Jesus replied, “Keep watch! Be careful that you are not fooled. Many will come in my name. They will claim, ‘I am he!’ And they will say, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. ⁹Do not be afraid when you hear about wars and about fighting against rulers. Those things must happen first. But the end will not come right away.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Nation will fight against nation. Kingdom will fight against kingdom. ¹¹In many places there will be powerful earthquakes. People will go hungry. There will be terrible sicknesses. Things will happen that will make people afraid. There will be great and miraculous signs from heaven.

¹²“But before all this, people will arrest you and treat you badly. They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons. You will be brought to kings and governors. All this will happen to you because of my name. ¹³In that way you will be witnesses to them. ¹⁴But make up your mind not to worry ahead of time about how to stand up for yourselves. ¹⁵I will give you words of wisdom. None of your enemies will be able to withstand them or oppose them.

¹⁶“Even your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends will hand you over to the authorities. They will put some of you to death. ¹⁷Everyone will hate you because of me. ¹⁸But not a hair on your head will be harmed. ¹⁹If you stand firm, you will gain life.

²⁰“A time is coming when you will see armies surround Jerusalem. Then you will know that it will soon be destroyed. ²¹Those who are in Judea should then escape to the mountains. Those in the city should get out. Those in the country should not enter the city. ²²This is the time when God will punish Jerusalem. Everything will come true, just as it has been written.

²³“How awful it will be in those days for pregnant women! How awful for nursing mothers! There will be terrible suffering in the land. There will be great anger against those people. ²⁴Some will be killed by the sword. Others will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be overrun by those who aren’t Jews until the times of the non-Jews come to an end.

²⁵“There will be miraculous signs in the sun, moon and stars. The nations of the earth will be in terrible pain. They will be puzzled by the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶Terror will make people faint. They will be worried about what is happening in the world. The sun, moon and stars will be shaken from their places.

²⁷“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud. He will come with power and great glory.

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