Luke 17:22–37

²²Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns,^* but you won’t see it. ²³People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them. ²⁴For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day^* when the Son of Man comes. ²⁵But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly^* and be rejected by this generation.

²⁶“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. ²⁷In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—²⁹until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. ³²Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! ³³If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. ³⁴That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. ³⁵Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”

³⁷“Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked.

Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”