Dual PanelWarnings about the end
1JESUS left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came and pointed to the temple buildings.
2He answered, “Yes, look at it all. Truly I tell you: not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.”
3As he sat 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 sign of your coming and the end of the age?”
4Jesus replied: “Take care that no one misleads you.
5For many will come claiming my name and saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and many will be misled by them.
6The time is coming when you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come.
7For nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes in many places.
8All these things are the first birth-pangs of the new age.
9“You will then be handed over for punishment and execution; all nations will hate you for your allegiance to me.
10At that time many will fall from their faith; they will betray one another and hate one another.
11Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many;
12and as lawlessness spreads, the love of many will grow cold.
13But whoever endures to the end will be saved.
14And 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),
16then those who are in Judaea must take to the hills.
17If anyone is on the roof, he must not go down to fetch his goods from the house;
18if anyone is in the field, he must not turn back for his coat.
19Alas for women with child in those days, and for those who have children at the breast!
20Pray that it may not be winter or a sabbath when you have to make your escape.
21It will be a time of great distress, such as there has never been before since the beginning of the world, and will never be again.
22If 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“If anyone says to you then, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ do not believe it.
24Impostors will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce great signs and wonders to mislead, if possible, even God's chosen.
25See, I have forewarned you.
26If therefore 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.
27Like a lightning-flash, that lights the sky from east to west, will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28“Wherever the carcass is, there will the vultures gather.
29“As soon as that time of distress 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 power and great glory.
31With 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.
33In the same way, when you see all these things, you may know that the end is near, at the very door.
34Truly I tell you: the present generation will live to see it all.
35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36“Yet about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son; no one but the Father alone.
37“As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be when the Son of Man comes.
38In the days before the flood they ate and drank and married, until the day that Noah went into the ark,
39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.
40Then there will be two men in the field: one will be taken, the other left;
41two 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 will come.
43Remember, if the householder had known at what time of night the burglar was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.
44Hold yourselves ready, therefore, because the Son of Man will come at the time you least expect him.
45“Who is the faithful and wise servant, charged by his master to manage his household and supply them with food at the proper time?
46Happy that servant if his master comes home and finds him at work!
47Truly I tell you: he will be put in charge of all his master's property.
48But if he is a bad servant and says to himself, ‘The master is a long time coming,’
49and begins to bully the other servants and to eat and drink with his drunken friends,
50then the master will arrive on a day when the servant does not expect him, at a time he has not been told.
51He will cut him in pieces and assign him a place among the hypocrites, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.