1   Jesus was leaving the temple when his disciples came and pointed to the temple buildings. 2   He answered, ‘Yes, look at it all. I tell you this: not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’

3   When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to speak to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen? And what will be the signal for your coming and the end of the age?’

4    5   Jesus replied: ‘Take care that no one misleads you. For many will come claiming my name and saying, “I am the Messiah”; and many will be misled by them. 6   The time is coming when you will hear the noise of battle near at hand and the news of battles far away; see that you are not alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. 7   For nation will make war upon nation, kingdom upon kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. 8   With all these things the birth-pangs of the new age begin.

9   ‘You will then be handed over for punishment and execution; and men of all nations will hate you for your allegiance to me. 10   Many will fall from their faith; they will betray one another and hate one another. 11   Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many; and as lawlessness spreads, 12   men's love for one another will grow cold. 13    14   But the man who holds out to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the earth as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.

15   ‘So when you see “the abomination of desolation”, of which the prophet Daniel spoke, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16   then those who are in Judaea must take to the hills. 17   If a man is on the roof, he must not come down to fetch his goods

Prophecies and warnings from the house; 18   if in the field, he must not turn back for his coat. 19   Alas for women with child in those days, and for those who have children at the breast! 20   Pray that it may not be winter when you have to make your escape, or Sabbath. 21   It will be a time of great distress; there has never been such a time from the beginning of the world until now, and will never be again. 22   If that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive; but for the sake of God's chosen it will be cut short.

23   ‘Then, if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah”, or, “There he is”, do not believe it. 24   Impostors will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce great signs and wonders to mislead even God's chosen, if such a thing were possible. 25   See, I have forewarned you. 26   If they tell you, “He is there in the wilderness”, do not go out; or if they say, “He is there in the inner room”, do not believe it. 27   Like lightning from the east, flashing as far as the west, will be the coming of the Son of Man.

28   ‘Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

29   ‘As soon as the distress of those days has passed, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from the sky, the celestial powers will be shaken. 30   Then will appear in heaven the sign that heralds the Son of Man. All the peoples of the world will make lamentation, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. 31   With a trumpet blast he will send out his angels, and they will gather his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest bounds of heaven on every side.

32   ‘Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots appear and are breaking into leaf, you know that summer is near. 33   In the same way, when you see all these things, you may know that the end is near, ^note at the very door. 34   I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all. 35   Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will never pass away.

36   ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son; only the Father.

37   ‘As things were in Noah's days, so will they be when the Son of Man comes. 38   In the days before the flood they ate and drank and married, 39   until the day that Noah went into the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how

Prophecies and warnings it will be when the Son of Man comes. 40   Then there will be two men in the field; 41   one will be taken, the other left; two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.

42   ‘Keep awake, then; for you do not know on what day your Lord is to come. 43   Remember, if the householder had known at what time of night the burglar was coming, he would have kept awake and not have let his house be broken into. 44   Hold yourselves ready, therefore, because the Son of Man will come at the time you least expect him.

45   ‘Who is the trusty servant, the sensible man charged by his master to manage his household staff and issue their rations at the proper time? 46   Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master comes! 47   I tell you this: he will be put in charge of all his master's property. 48   But if he is a bad servant and says to himself, “The master is a long time coming”, 49   and begins to bully the other servants and to eat and drink with his drunken friends, 50   then the master will arrive on a day that servant does not expect, at a time he does not know, and will cut him in pieces. 51   Thus he will find his place among the hypocrites, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.

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