Matthew 24:1–28

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