⁴² The Lord^(A) answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³ It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.^(B) He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

The Coming of the Kingdom of God^(A)

²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come,^(B) Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’^(C) because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”^[a]

²² Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man,^(D) but you will not see it.^{(E) 23} People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.^{(F) 24} For the Son of Man in his day^[b] will be like the lightning,^(G) which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. ²⁵ But first he must suffer many things^(H) and be rejected^(I) by this generation.^(J)

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah,^(K) so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ “It was the same in the days of Lot.^(L) People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.^{(M) 31} On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.^{(N) 32} Remember Lot’s wife!^{(O) 33} Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.^{(P) 34} I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”^{(Q) [36] [c]}

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked.

He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”^(R)