Matthew 24 — Legacy Standard Bible

Signs of Christ’s Return

24^aAnd coming ^bout from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ²And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^anot one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³Now as He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^bYour coming and of the ¹end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “^aSee to it that no one deceives you. ⁵“For ^amany will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ¹Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶“And you are going to hear of ^awars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷“For ^anation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^bfamines and earthquakes. ⁸“^aBut all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“^aThen they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and ^byou will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰“And at that time many will ¹^,^afall away and will ²betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹“Many ^afalse prophets will arise and will deceive many. ¹²“And because lawlessness is multiplied, ¹most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³“^aBut the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴“And this ^agospel of the kingdom ^bshall be proclaimed in the whole ¹^,^cworld as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Abomination of Desolation and the Tribulation

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ^aabomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^bthe holy place (^clet the reader understand), ¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷“¹Whoever is on ^athe housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸“And ¹whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. ¹⁹“But ^awoe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰“But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹“For then there will be a ^agreat tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²²“And unless those days had been cut short, no ¹life would have been saved; but for ^athe sake of the ²elect those days will be cut short. ²³“^aThen if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ,’ or ‘²There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴“For false christs and ^afalse prophets will arise and will ¹show great ²^,^bsigns and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even ^cthe ³elect. ²⁵“Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶“Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷“^aFor just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the ^bcoming of the ^cSon of Man be. ²⁸“^aWherever the corpse is, there the ¹vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹“But immediately after the ^atribulation of those days ^bthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^cthe stars will fall from ¹the sky, and the powers of ²the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰“And then ^athe sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^bthe Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹“And ^aHe will send forth His angels with ^ba great trumpet and they will gather together His ¹^,^celect from ^dthe four winds, from one end of the sky to the ²other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³so, you too, when you see all these things, ¹recognize that ²He is near, right ^aat the ³door. ³⁴“Truly I say to you, ^athis ¹generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵“^aHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But ^aof that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷“For ^ajust as the days of Noah were, so the ^bcoming of the Son of Man will be. ³⁸“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^amarrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^bNoah entered the ark, ³⁹and they did not ¹understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^acoming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰“Then there will be two in the field; one ¹will be taken, and one ²will be left. ⁴¹“^aTwo women will be grinding grain at the ¹^,^bmill; one ²will be taken and one ³will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴²“Therefore ^astay awake, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³“But ¹be sure of this, that ^aif the head of the house had known ^bat what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed his house to be ²broken into. ⁴⁴“For this reason ^ayou also must be ready; for ^bthe Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“^aWho then is the ^bfaithful and ^cprudent slave whom his ¹master ^dput in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶“Blessed is that slave whom his ¹master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷“Truly I say to you that ^ahe will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸“But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ¹master ²is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰the ¹master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹and will ¹cut him in pieces and ²assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^aweeping and gnashing of teeth.