1AS HE WAS LEAVING the temple, one of his disciples exclaimed, 'Look, Master, what huge stones! What fine buildings!' 2Jesus said to him, 'You see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.'
3When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the temple he was questioned privately by Peter, James, John, and Andrew. 4'Tell us,' they said, 'when will this happen? What will be the sign when the fulfilment of all this is at hand?'
5Jesus began: 'Take care that no one misleads you. 6Many will come claiming my name, and saying, "I am he"; and many will be misled by them.
7'When you hear the noise of battle near at hand and the news of battles far away, do not be alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. 8For nation will make war upon nation, kingdom upon kingdom; there will be earthquakes in many places; there will be famines. With these things the birth-pangs of the new age begin.
9'As for you, be on your guard. You will be handed over to the courts. You will be flogged in synagogues. You will be summoned to appear before governors and kings on my account to testify in their presence. 10But before the end the Gospel must be proclaimed to all nations. 11So when you are arrested and taken away, do not worry beforehand about what you will say, but when the time comes say whatever is given you to say; for it will not be you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will turn against their parents and send them to their death. 13All will hate you for your allegiance to me; but the man who holds out to the end will be saved.
14'But when you see "the abomination of desolation" usurping a place which is not his (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judaea must take to the hills. 15If a man is on the roof, he must not come down into the house to fetch anything out; 16if in the field, he must not turn back for his cloak. 17Alas for women with child in those days, and for those who have children at the breast! 18Pray that it may not come in winter. 19 [ Dn.12.1. ] For those days will bring distress such as never has been until now since the beginning of the world which God created-and will never be again. 20If the Lord had not cut short that time of troubles, no living thing could survive. However, for the sake of his own, whom he has chosen, he has cut short the time.
21'Then, if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Messiah", or, "Look, there he is", do not believe it. 22Impostors will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce signs and wonders to mislead God's chosen, if such a thing were possible. 23But you be on your guard; I have forewarned you of it all.
24'But in those days, after that distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light; 25the stars will come falling from the sky, the celestial powers will be shaken. 26Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, 27and he will send out the angels and gather his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest bounds of earth to the farthest bounds of heaven.
28'Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots appear and are breaking into leaf, you know that summer is near. 29In the same way, when you see all this happening, you may know that the end is near, at the very door. 30I tell you this: the present generation will live to see it all. 31Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will never pass away.
32'But about that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son; only the Father.
33'Be alert, be wakeful. You do not know when the moment comes. 34It is like a man away from home: he has left his house and put his servants in charge, each with his own work to do, and he has ordered the doorkeeper to stay stay awake. 35Keep awake, then, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. 36Evening or midnight, cock-crow or early dawn—if he comes suddenly, he must not find you asleep. 37And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep awake.'
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