Enemies will destroy the temple
(Also in Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6)
1When Jesus walked away from the temple, his disciples came to Him and they showed Him the buildings and the temple. 2Jesus said to them: ‘Do you see these buildings? The enemies will come and break down all these buildings. They will destroy everything. Not one wall will stand.’
People will suffer
(Also in Mark 13:3-13; Luke 21:7-19)
3Later when Jesus sat on the Mount_of_Olives, his disciples came to Him. They were alone with Him. They asked Jesus: ‘Tell us: When will these things happen that You have told us about? How will we know when it will happen? What will be the sign that will show us that it is starting to happen?’
4Jesus said to them: ‘You must be careful that no person tells you lies. 5Many people will use my name and say that they are the Christ. They will deceive many people who will believe them. 6Do not be afraid when you hear there is war near you or a war far from you. These things must happen, but that will not be the end of everything. 7One nation will fight against another nation, and the people of one land will make war_against the people of another land. There will be earthquakes in many places and people will have no food to eat. 8This will be only the beginning of the suffering.
9People will arrest and punish you. They will beat you and they will kill some of you. People of all nations will hate you because you believe in Me. 10Then many people will stop believing in Me. They will betray and hate each other. 11There will be many false_prophets and they will teach things that are wrong to the people, and deceive them. 12More and more people will do bad things. They will not do what God's laws say. 13But if someone continues to follow Me, then God will save him. 14People who believe will bring this message to all the people on earth. This is the Good_News that God rules over all. All the nations will hear it and only then will it be the end of the world.’
People will oppress the believers
(Also in Mark 13:14-23; Luke 21:20-24)
15Jesus said: ‘You will see something wicked in the temple. It will make God very angry. The prophet Daniel wrote about it. Everyone who reads these words must think about what it means. 16When this happens, the people who are in Judea must run and flee to the mountains. 17If someone is on the roof of his house, he must run. He must not first go into the house to get something. 18And if someone is in the field, he must not go home to get his clothes. 19Women who are pregnant or mothers with little babies will suffer a lot. 20You must pray that this does not happen in winter time. 21People will suffer a lot when this happens. Nothing as bad as these things has ever happened from the time that God made the earth, and nothing as bad as these things will ever happen again after that time. 22People will suffer a lot when this happens, but God has decided to make that time shorter. If God did not decide to make that time shorter, then no one would stay alive. But God has decided to make the time shorter to help his chosen people.
23When someone says in that time: “Look, here is the Christ,” or “Look, there He is,” you must not believe him. 24Because there will be people who are false, and they will say they are the Christ. There will also be false_prophets and they will make signs and do miracles. They will try to deceive the chosen people of God to follow them. But God has chosen his people and the false_prophets will not be able to deceive them. 25You must look and be careful. That is why I am telling you everything before it happens. 26When people say: “Look, the Christ is in the desert,” then you must not go there. And if they say: “Look, He is here in a room,” you must not believe them. 27When I, the Son of man, come, it will be like the lightning in the sky that you can see from the east to the west.
28Everyone will know that I have come, like people know that there is a dead body when they see the vultures come together.’
The Son of man will come again
(Also in Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28)
29Jesus said: ‘After the people have oppressed the believers, it will not be long,
“then the sun will become dark
and the moon will not shine.
The stars will fall from the sky
and everything in the sky will shake.”
30Then there will be a sign in the sky that will show that I, the Son of man, am coming. And the people of the earth will cry and mourn when they see the Son of man coming on the clouds in the sky. And I will do everything that I want to do. I will be the great King. 31When you hear the big trumpet, I will send my angels to bring all the chosen people of God together. They will come from the east, the west, the north and the south, from all over the world.’
The parable of the fig tree
(Also in Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33)
32Jesus said:
‘You must learn this lesson from the fig tree: When the branches of a fig tree are getting soft and the leaves start to grow, then you know that summer is near. 33So, when you see all these things happen, then you will know that the Lord is near, and He will be coming soon. 34I tell you this and it is sure: Some people who are alive now will still be living when these things will happen. 35Heaven and earth will disappear one day, but my words will always be true. They will not disappear.’
No one knows when the Son of man will come again
36Jesus said:
‘No one knows on what day and what time of day I will come again. The angels_in_heaven do not know it and I, the Son of man, do not know when it will be. Only the Father knows. 37When I, the Son of man, come again, it will be like in the days of Noah. 38In those days before the flood of water came, the people were eating and drinking and getting married until the day that Noah went into the ark.
39They did not know what was happening, until the flood came and the water took everything away. It will be the same when I, the Son of man, come again.
40Then 2 men will be working in a wheat_field and God will save one person but not the other person. 41And 2 women will be grinding wheat together and God will save one woman but not the other one.
42You must be ready, because you do not know when the Lord will come. 43But you must know this: If the owner of a house knows when a thief will come in the night, then he will stay awake and he will not let the thief break into his house and steal his things. 44That is why you must always be ready, because you do not know when I, the Son of man, will come.’
The wise servant and the bad servant
(Also in Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:35-48)
45Jesus said:
‘I want to tell you what a wise servant, who does what his master wants, is like. The master chooses one of his servants and makes him the manager over all the other servants. He must give them food every day while the master is away. 46When the master comes back and the servant is busy doing the work that his master gave him, that servant can feel very happy. 47I tell you this and it is sure: The master will make that servant the manager of all the things of the master.
48But if the master chooses a bad servant to be the manager over the other servants, that servant will think his master will stay away for a long time, or that his master will not come back. 49Then he will start to beat the other servants and he will eat and drink with bad people who are always drunk. 50And one day when the master of the servants comes back, he will surprise that bad servant who did not think that the master would come back on that day and at that time. 51Then the master will punish that bad servant a lot. He will punish him as God will punish all the people who say they serve God, but do not serve Him. Those people will cry and bite hard on their teeth in pain.’
