Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him. 2 “Do you see all these?” he answered. “Amen, I tell you: not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down.”
3 Later, as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”
4 Jesus answered them: “Watch out that no one leads you astray. 5 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Anointed One,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 You’re going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don’t be alarmed. These things have to happen, but the end is not yet. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All this is just the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “Then they will hand you over to trouble and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name. 10 At that time many will fall away. They will hand one another over and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will spread, the love of most people will grow cold. 13 But the one who holds on to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole inhabited world as a witness to all the nations — and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see the abomination that brings desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” — let the reader understand —[1] 16 “then those in Judea must run for the mountains. 17 The one on the rooftop must not go down to get anything out of the house.[2] 18 The one in the field must not turn back to grab a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days! 20 Pray that your flight won’t happen in winter or on a Sabbath.[3] 21 For at that time there will be great trouble — the kind that hasn’t happened from the beginning of the world until now, and never will again. 22 And if those days hadn’t been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be cut short.
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Anointed One!’ or ‘There he is!’ — don’t believe it. 24 False anointed ones and false prophets will rise up and will perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray — if that were possible — even the chosen ones. 25 Look, I’ve told you ahead of time.
26 “So if they say to you, ‘Look, he’s out in the desert,’ don’t go out. Or, ‘Look, he’s in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. 27 Because just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, that’s how the coming of the Son of Man will be. 28 Wherever the carcass is, that’s where the vultures will gather.[4]
29 “Right after the trouble of those days,
the sun will go dark, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will beat their chests in grief, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his chosen ones from the four winds — from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you know that he is near — right at the door. 34 Amen, I tell you: this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things happen.[5] 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day and hour, no one knows — not the angels of heaven, not even the Son — only the Father alone. 37 Because just as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they didn’t know anything was coming until the flood came and swept them all away. That’s how the coming of the Son of Man will be.
40 “At that time, two men will be in the field — one is taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill — one is taken and the other left.
42 “So stay awake, because you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the homeowner had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and wouldn’t have let his house be broken into. 44 For this reason, you also must be ready — because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you don’t expect.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, the one the master has put in charge of his household to give them their food at the right time? 46 How good it will be for that slave when his master comes and finds him doing just that. 47 Amen, I tell you: he will put him in charge of everything he owns.
48 “But suppose that slave is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master is taking a long time,’ 49 and he starts beating his fellow slaves and eating and drinking with the drunkards. 50 The master of that slave will come on a day he doesn’t expect and at an hour he doesn’t know. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites — where there will be sobbing and grinding of teeth.”
Notes
Note 1. The phrase comes from the book of Daniel (9:27; also 11:31 and 12:11), where it names the desecration of the Jerusalem temple — historically linked to the Greek king Antiochus IV, who in 167 BCE set up a pagan altar and sacrifice in the sanctuary. ↩
Note 2. Judean houses had flat roofs — built of beams, branches, reeds, and packed earth — reached by a staircase on the outside of the house, and used for sleeping and gathering. ↩
Note 3. Jewish law limited Sabbath travel to a “Sabbath day’s journey” — about 2,000 cubits, just over half a mile — beyond which movement was forbidden. ↩
Note 4. The Greek word here, aetoi, can mean either “eagles” or “vultures.” The scavenging image — birds circling a carcass — fits vultures, which feed on carrion, better than eagles, so many translators render it “vultures.” ↩
Note 5. The Greek word genea normally means “generation” — the people alive at one time — which points to a near horizon. It can also carry the sense of “kind” or “breed” of people. Both readings are open. ↩