Matthew 24

1When Jesus walked away from the temple, his disciples came to Him and the disciples showed Jesus the buildings of the temple.

2Jesus said to the disciples: Do you see these buildings? The buildings will be destroyed. Every stone will be thrown down to the ground. Not one stone will be left on another.

3Later when Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, Jesus disciples came to Him when they were alone with Him. The disciples asked Jesus: Tell us: When will these things happen that You have told us about? How will we know when it will happen? And what will happen to prepare us for your coming and the end of time

4Jesus said to his disciples: 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 many diseases and 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 Jesus.

10During that time many believers will lose their faith. They will turn against each other and hate each other.

11There will be many false prophets and they will teach things that are wrong to the people, and the false prophets will deceive the people.

12There will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most will grow cold

13But if someone continues to follow Jesus, then God will save the one who believes.

14People who believe will bring this message to all the people on earth. All the nations will hear it and only then will it be the end of the world.

15Jesus said: You will see a false god sacrifices in the temple. It will make God very angry. The prophet Daniel wrote about it. (You who read this should understand 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.

19During that time it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have small babies!

20Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away

21it will be a time of great trouble. There will be more trouble than has ever happened since the beginning of the world. And nothing as bad as that will ever happen again.

22And if those days of trouble had not been cut short, no human life would be saved; but for the sake of God’s chosen ones those days will be shortened.

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.

25Now I have warned you about this 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.

28It is like looking for a dead body: You will find it where the eagles are gathering above.

29Right after the trouble of those days, this will happen: The sun will become dark, and the moon will not give light. 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. I will come with power and great glory

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.

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 not disappear.

36Jesus said: No one knows on what day and what time of day I will come again. The angels in heaven 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. Matthew 24;38 In 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 field and God will take one person but not the other person.

41And 2 women will be grinding wheat together and God will take 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.

45Who is the wise and trusted servant? The master trusts one servant to give the other servants their food at the right time. Who is the one the master trusts to do that work?

46When the master comes and finds that servant doing the work he gave him, it will be a day of blessing for that servant

47I tell you this: 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 servant. He will send him away to be with the hypocrites, where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.