Matthew 24-25 (Amplified Bible)

Matthew 24

 ¹JESUS DEPARTED from the temple ^[a]area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to the buildings of the temple and point them out to Him.

    ²But He answered them, Do you see all these? Truly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

    ³While He was seated on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately and said, Tell us, when will this take place, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end (the completion, the consummation) of the age?

    ⁴Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error].

    ⁵For many will come in (on the strength of) My name [^[b]appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.

    ⁶And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

    ⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;

    ⁸All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the ^[c]birth pangs [of the ^[d]intolerable anguish].

    ⁹Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.

    ¹⁰And then many will be offended and repelled and will ^[e]begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.

    ¹¹And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.

    ¹²And the love of ^[f]the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,

    ¹³But he who endures to the end will be saved.

    ¹⁴And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end.

    ¹⁵So when you see the appalling sacrilege [the abomination that astonishes and makes desolate], spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place--let the reader take notice and ^[g]ponder and consider and heed [this]--^(A)

    ¹⁶Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;

    ¹⁷Let him who is on the housetop not come down and go into the house to take anything;

    ¹⁸And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his overcoat.

    ¹⁹And alas for the women who are pregnant and for those who have nursing babies in those days!

    ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

    ²¹For then there will be great tribulation (affliction, distress, and oppression) such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now--no, and never will be [again].^(B)

    ²²And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would endure and survive, but for the sake of the elect (God's chosen ones) those days will be shortened.

    ²³If anyone says to you then, Behold, here is the Christ (the Messiah)! or, There He is!--do not believe it.

    ²⁴For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God's chosen ones).

    ²⁵See, I have warned you beforehand.

    ²⁶So if they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness (desert)--do not go out there; if they tell you, Behold, He is in the secret places or inner rooms--do not believe it.

    ²⁷For just as the lightning flashes from the east and shines and ^[h]is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

    ²⁸Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.^(C)

    ²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.^(D)

    ³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and ^[i]beat their breasts and lament in anguish, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [in brilliancy and splendor].^(E)

    ³¹And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect (His chosen ones) from the four winds, [even] from one end of the ^[j]universe to the other.^(F)

    ³²From the fig tree learn this lesson: as soon as its ^[k]young shoots become soft and tender and it puts out its leaves, you know ^[l]of a surety that summer is near.

    ³³So also when you see these signs, ^[m]all taken together, coming to pass, you may know ^[n]of a surety that He is near, at the very doors.

    ³⁴Truly I tell you, this generation (^[o]the whole multitude of people living at the same time, ^[p]in a definite, ^[q]given period) will not pass away till all these things ^[r]taken together take place.

    ^35[s]Sky and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

    ³⁶But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

    ³⁷As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

    ³⁸For just as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, [men] marrying and [women] being given in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah went into the ark,

    ³⁹And they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away--so will be the coming of the Son of Man.^(G)

    ⁴⁰At that time two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

    ⁴¹Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

    ⁴²Watch therefore [^[t]give strict attention, be cautious and active], for you do not know in what kind of a day [^[u]whether a near or remote one] your Lord is coming.

    ⁴³But understand this: had the householder known in what [part of the night, whether in a ^[v]night or a morning] watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be ^[w]undermined and broken into.

    ⁴⁴You also must be ready therefore, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.

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

    ⁴⁶Blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[x]to be envied) is that servant whom, when his master comes, he will find so doing.

    ⁴⁷I solemnly declare to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

    ⁴⁸But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is delayed and is going to be gone a long time,

    ⁴⁹And begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken,

    ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour of which he is not aware,

    ⁵¹And will punish him [^[y]cut him up by scourging] and put him with the pretenders (hypocrites); there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

   

Matthew 25

 ¹THEN THE kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

    ²Five of them were foolish (thoughtless, without forethought) and five were wise (sensible, intelligent, and prudent).

    ³For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take any [extra] oil with them;

    ⁴But the wise took flasks of oil along with them [also] with their lamps.

    ⁵While the bridegroom lingered and was slow in coming, they all began nodding their heads, and they fell asleep.

    ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom! Go out to meet him!

    ⁷Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order.

    ⁸And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

    ⁹But the wise replied, There will not be enough for us and for you; go instead to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

    ¹⁰But while they were going away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were prepared went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.

    ¹¹Later the other virgins also came and said, Lord, Lord, open [the door] to us!

    ¹²But He replied, I solemnly declare to you, I do not know you [I am not acquainted with you].

    ¹³Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active], for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come.

    ¹⁴For it is like a man who was about to take a long journey, and he called his servants together and entrusted them with his property.

    ¹⁵To one he gave five talents [probably about $5,000], to another two, to another one--to each in proportion to his own ^[z]personal ability. Then he departed and left the country.

    ¹⁶He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he gained five talents more.

    ¹⁷And likewise he who had received the two talents--he also gained two talents more.

    ¹⁸But he who had received the one talent went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

    ¹⁹Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

    ²⁰And he who had received the five talents came and brought him five more, saying, Master, you entrusted to me five talents; see, here I have gained five talents more.

    ²¹His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, ^[aa]admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the ^[ab]blessedness) which your master enjoys.

    ²²And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you entrusted two talents to me; here I have gained two talents more.

    ²³His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, ^[ac]admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the ^[ad]blessedness) which your master enjoys.

    ²⁴He who had received one talent also came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a harsh and hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you had not winnowed [the grain].

    ²⁵So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is your own.

    ²⁶But his master answered him, You wicked and lazy and idle servant! Did you indeed know that I reap where I have not sowed and gather [grain] where I have not winnowed?

    ²⁷Then you should have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received what was my own with interest.

    ²⁸So take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.

    ²⁹For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will be ^[ae]furnished richly so that he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away.

    ³⁰And throw the good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

    ³¹When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

    ³²All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;^(H)

    ³³And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.

    ³⁴Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you ^[af]favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

    ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you ^[ag]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and ^[ah]lodged Me,

    ³⁶I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me ^[ai]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.^(I)

    ³⁷Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink?

    ³⁸And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?

    ³⁹And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?

    ⁴⁰And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [^[aj]in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.^(J)

    ⁴¹Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

    ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,

    ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me ^[ak]with help and ministering care.

    ⁴⁴Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?

    ⁴⁵And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [^[al]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me.^(K)

    ⁴⁶Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life.^(L)