Matthew 24 NIV
1 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. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here
will be left on another;1 every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of
Olives,2 the disciples came to him privately.
"Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be
the sign of your coming3 and of the end of the age?"4
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.5
5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,a ' and will deceive many.6
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.7 There will be famines8and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted9 and put to death,10 and you will be hated by all nations
because of me.11
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray
and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets12 will appear and deceive many people.13
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will
grow cold,
13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom15 will be preached in the whole world16 as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 "So when you see standing in the holy place17 'the abomination that causes desolation,'b18 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 roof of his house19 go down to take anything out of the house.
18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and
nursing mothers!20
20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the
Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning
of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.21
22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but
for the sake of the elect22 those days will be shortened.
23 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!'
or, 'There he is!' do not believe it.23
24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform
great signs and miracles24to deceive even the elect--if that were
possible.
25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,'
do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
27 For as lightning25 that comes from the east is visible even
in the west, so will be the coming26 of the Son of Man.27
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.28
29 "Immediately after the distress of those days " 'the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall
from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'c29
30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the
sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.30 They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the
sky,31 with power and great glory.
31 And he will send his angels32 with a loud trumpet call,33 and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from
one end of the heavens to the other.
32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its
twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that itd is near, right at the door.34
34 I tell you the truth, this generatione will certainly not pass away until all these things have
happened.35
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass
away.36
36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels
in heaven, nor the Son,fbut only the Father.37
37 As it was in the days of Noah,38 so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,39 up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood
came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.40
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other
left.41
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken
and the other left.42
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day
your Lord will come.43
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what
time of night the thief was coming,44 he would have kept watch and would not
have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready,45 because the Son of Man will come at an
hour when you do not expect him.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant,46 whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his
household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so
when he returns.47
47 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his
possessions.48
48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My
master is staying away a long time,'
49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and
drink with drunkards.49
50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not
expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
51 He will cut him to
pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.50