Matthew 24–26

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

24:1–51pp—Mk 13:1–37; Lk 21:5–36

24Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ²“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another;^f every one will be thrown down.”

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives,^g the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming^h and of the end of the age?”ⁱ

⁴Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.^{j 5}For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.^{k 6}You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.^l There will be famines^m and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecutedⁿ and put to death,^o and you will be hated by all nations because of me.^{p 10}At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets^q will appear and deceive many people.^{r 12}Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.^{s 14}And this gospel of the kingdom^t will be preached in the whole world^u as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see standing in the holy place^v ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^aw spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷Let no one on the housetop^x go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!^{y 20}Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.^z

²²“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect^a those days will be shortened. ²³At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.^{b 24}For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders^c to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time.

²⁶“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷For as lightning^d that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming^e of the Son of Man.^{f 28}Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.^g

²⁹“Immediately after the distress of those days

“ ‘the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’^bh

³⁰“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^c will mournⁱ when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,^j with power and great glory.^{d 31}And he will send his angels^k with a loud trumpet call,^l and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³²“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^e is near, right at the door.^{m 34}Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.^{n 35}Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.^o

The Day and Hour Unknown

24:37–39pp—Lk 17:26,27 24:45–51pp—Lk 12:42–46

³⁶“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^f but only the Father.^{p 37}As it was in the days of Noah,^q so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,^r up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.^{s 40}Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.^{t 41}Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.^u

⁴²“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.^{v 43}But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,^w he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready,^x because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise servant,^y whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.^{z 47}Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.^{a 48}But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.^{b 50}The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^c

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like^d ten virgins who took their lamps^e and went out to meet the bridegroom.^{f 2}Five of them were foolish and five were wise.^{g 3}The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.^h

⁶“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ⁱ

⁹“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet.^j And the door was shut.

¹¹“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹²“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’^k

¹³“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.^l

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

25:14–30Ref—Lk 19:12–27

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey,^m who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,^a each according to his ability.ⁿ Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.^{o 20}The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.^p Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²²“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.^q Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸“ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.^{r 30}And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’^s

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹“When the Son of Man comes^t in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.^{u 32}All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate^v the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.^{w 33}He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom^x prepared for you since the creation of the world.^{y 35}For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,^{z 36}I needed clothes and you clothed me,^a I was sick and you looked after me,^b I was in prison and you came to visit me.’^c

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you…