Matthew 23–24

1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples:

2“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

3So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

4They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

6They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,

7the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.

8But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

9And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

10Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ.

11The greatest among you shall be your servant.

12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

16Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’

17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?

18And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’

19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

20So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.

22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.

23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.

28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

30And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

31So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.

33You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.

35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

38Look, your house is left to you desolate.

39For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

1As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings.

2“Do you see all these things?” He replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”

4Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.

5For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

10At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another,

11and many false prophets will arise and deceive many.

12Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

13But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),

16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.

18And let no one in the field return for his cloak.

19How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!

20Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath.

21For at that time there will be great tribulation, unseen from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again.

22If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

23At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it.

24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

25See, I have told you in advance.

26So if they tell you, ‘There He is, in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Here He is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’

30At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near.

33So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door.

34Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.

35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

36No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

37As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.

39And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

40Two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

42Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

43But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

44For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

45Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time?

46Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

47Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

48But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’

49And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

50The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate.

51Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.