Matthew 24:1–25:46
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24:1–51pp—Mk 13:1–37; Lk 21:5–36
24 Jesus 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.”
3 As 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 comingh and of the end of the age?”i
4 Jesus 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. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.l There will be faminesm and earthquakes in various places. 8 All 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, 11 and many false prophetsq will appear and deceive many people.r 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.s 14 And this gospel of the kingdomt will be preached in the whole worldu as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy placev ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’a w spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetopx go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!y 20 Pray that your flight will not …
Mark 13:1–37
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
13:1–37pp—Mt 24:1–51; Lk 21:5–36
13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”a
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olivesb opposite the temple, Peter, James, Johnc and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.d 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues.e On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.f
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.g 13 Everyone will hate you because of me,h but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.i
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’a j standing where itb does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it
Luke 21:1–38
21 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.i 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”j
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
21:5–36pp—Mt 24; Mk 13
21:12–17pp—Mt 10:17–22
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another;k every one of them will be thrown down.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.l 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.m 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.n
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me.o 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.p 15 For I will give youq words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends,r and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me.s 18 …
2 Timothy 3
3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.j 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,k boastful, proud,l abusive,m disobedient to their parents,n ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous,o rash, conceited,p lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5 having a form of godlinessq but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.r
6 They are the kind who worm their ways into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.t 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses,u so also these teachers opposev the truth. They are men of depraved minds,w who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men,x their folly will be clear to everyone.
10 You, however, know all about my teaching,y my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch,z Iconiuma and Lystra,b the persecutions I endured.c Yet the Lord rescuedd me from all of them.e 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,f 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse,g deceiving and being deceived.h 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,i 15 and how from infancyj you have known the Holy Scriptures,k which are able to make you wisel for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathedm and is useful for teaching,n rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,o 17 so that the servant of Goda p may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.q
Revelation 13:1–18
13 The dragona stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.h It had ten horns and seven heads,i with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.j 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard,k but had feet like those of a bearl and a mouth like that of a lion.m The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.n 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.o The whole world was filled with wonderp and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is likeq the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemiesr and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.s 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.t 7 It was given power to wage waru against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.v 8 All inhabitants of the earthw will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life,x the Lamby who was slain from the creation of the world.b z
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.a
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killedc with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”d b
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulnessc on the part of God’s people.d
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth.e It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.f 12 It exercised all the authorityg of the first beast on its behalf,h and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,i whose fatal wound had been healed.j 13 And it performed great signs,k even causing fire to come down from heavenl to the earth in full view