Matthew 24
24
1And having gone forth, Jesus departed from the temple, and his disciples came near to show him the buildings of the temple,
2and Jesus said to them, ‘Do ye not see all these? verily I say to you, There may not be left here a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down.’
3And when he is sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples came near to him by himself, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these be? and what [is] the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?’
4And Jesus answering said to them, ‘Take heed that no one may lead you astray,
5for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they shall lead many astray,
6and ye shall begin to hear of wars, and reports of wars; see, be not troubled, for it behoveth all [these] to come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7‘For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places;
8and all these [are] the beginning of sorrows;
9then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of my name;
10and then shall many be stumbled, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.
11‘And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray;
12and because of the abounding of the lawlessness, the love of the many shall become cold;
13but he who did endure to the end, he shall be saved;
14and this good news of the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end arrive.
15‘Whenever, therefore, ye may see the abomination of the desolation, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever is reading let him observe)
16then those in Judea — let them flee to the mounts;
17he on the house-top — let him not come down to take up any thing out of his house;
18and he in the field — let him not turn back to take his garments.
19‘And woe to those with child, and to those giving suck in those days;
20and pray ye that your flight may not be in winter, nor on a sabbath;
21for there shall be then great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world till now, no, nor may be.
22And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but because of the chosen, shall those days be shortened.
23‘Then if any one may say to you, Lo, here [is] the Christ! or here! ye may not believe;
24for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen.
25Lo, I did tell you beforehand.
26‘If therefore they may say to you, Lo, in the wilderness he is, ye may not go forth; lo, in the inner chambers, ye may not believe;
27for as the lightning doth come forth from the east, and doth appear unto the west, so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man;
28for wherever the carcase may be, there shall the eagles be gathered together.
29‘And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;
30and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth smite the breast, and they shall see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of the heaven, with power and much glory;
31and he shall send his messengers with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens unto the ends thereof.
32‘And from the fig-tree learn ye the simile: When already its branch may have become tender, and the leaves it may put forth, ye know that summer [is] nigh,
33so also ye, when ye may see all these, ye know that it is nigh — at the doors.
34Verily I say to you, this generation may not pass away till all these may come to pass.
35The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36‘And concerning that day and the hour no one hath known — not even the messengers of the heavens — except my Father only;
37and as the days of Noah — so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man;
38for as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the ark,
39and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man.
40Then two men shall be in the field, the one is received, and the one is left;
41two women shall be grinding in the mill, one is received, and one is left.
42‘Watch ye therefore, because ye have not known in what hour your Lord doth come;
43and this know, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief doth come, he had watched, and not suffered his house to be broken through;
44because of this also ye, become ye ready, because in what hour ye do not think, the Son of Man doth come.
45‘Who, then, is the servant, faithful and wise, whom his lord did set over his household, to give them the nourishment in season?
46Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so;
47verily I say to you, that over all his substance he will set him.
48‘And, if that evil servant may say in his heart, My Lord doth delay to come,
49and may begin to beat the fellow-servants, and to eat and to drink with the drunken,
50the lord of that servant will arrive in a day when he doth not expect, and in an hour of which he doth not know,
51and will cut him off, and his portion with the hypocrites will appoint; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
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Matthew 24: YLT98
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Matthew 24
24
Routine History
1-2Jesus then left the Temple. As he walked away, his disciples pointed out how very impressive the Temple architecture was. Jesus said, “You’re not impressed by all this sheer size, are you? The truth of the matter is that there’s not a stone in that building that is not going to end up in a pile of rubble.”
3Later as he was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, “Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?”
4-8Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.
9-10“They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.
11-12“In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
13-14“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.
The Monster of Desecration
15-20“But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you’ve read Daniel, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you’re working in the yard, don’t return to the house to get anything; if you’re out in the field, don’t go back and get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won’t happen during the winter or on a Sabbath.
21-22“This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God’s chosen people, the trouble will be cut short.
The Arrival of the Son of Man
23-25“If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and bewitching performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. But I’ve given you fair warning.
26-28“So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!’ or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!’ don’t give them the time of day. The Arrival of the Son of Man isn’t something you go to see. He comes like swift lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it’s not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.
29“Following those hard times,
Sun will fade out,
moon cloud over,
Stars fall out of the sky,
cosmic powers tremble.
30-31“Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.
32-35“Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.
36“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.
37-39a “The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.
39b-44 “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.
45-47“Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.
48-51“But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases—abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends—the Master is going to show up when he least expects it, and it won’t be pretty. He’ll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.