Mark 13

English Standard Version

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

13 ^(A)And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^(B)There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age

³And as he sat on ^(C)the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^(D)Peter and James and John and ^(E)Andrew asked him ^(F)privately, ⁴“Tell us, ^(G)when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵And Jesus began to say to them, ^(H)“See that no one leads you astray. ⁶^(I)Many will come in my name, saying, ^(J)‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁷And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, ^(K)do not be alarmed. This ^(L)must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸For ^(M)nation will rise against nation, and ^(N)kingdom against kingdom. There will be ^(O)earthquakes in various places; there will be ^(P)famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

⁹^(Q)“But ^(R)be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten ^(S)in synagogues, and you will stand before ^(T)governors and ^(U)kings for my sake, ^(V)to bear witness before them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be proclaimed ^(W)to all nations. ¹¹And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, ^(X)do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say ^(Y)whatever is given you in that hour, ^(Z)for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹²^(AA)And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. ¹³^(AB)And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. ^(AC)But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁴“But when you see ^(AD)the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (^(AE)let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁵^(AF)Let the one who is on ^(AG)the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, ¹⁶and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁷And ^(AH)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ¹⁸Pray that it may not happen in winter. ¹⁹For in those days there will be ^(AI)such ^(AJ)tribulation as has not been ^(AK)from the beginning of the creation that ^(AL)God created until now, and never will be. ²⁰And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for ^(AM)the sake of the elect, whom ^(AN)he chose, he shortened the days. ²¹And ^(AO)then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. ²²^(AP)For false christs and false prophets will arise and ^(AQ)perform signs and wonders, ^(AR)to lead astray, if possible, ^(AS)the elect. ²³But ^(AT)be on guard; ^(AU)I have told you all things beforehand.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁴“But in those days, after ^(AV)that tribulation, ^(AW)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵and ^(AX)the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶And then they will see ^(AY)the Son of Man coming in clouds ^(AZ)with great power and glory. ²⁷And then ^(BA)he will send out the angels and ^(BB)gather ^(BC)his elect from ^(BD)the four winds, from ^(BE)the ends of the earth ^(BF)to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, ^(BG)at the very gates. ³⁰^(BH)Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹^(BI)Heaven and earth will pass away, but ^(BJ)my words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day or Hour

³²“But concerning that day or that hour, ^(BK)no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, ^(BL)nor the Son, ^(BM)but only the Father. ³³^(BN)Be on guard, ^(BO)keep awake.^[a] For you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴^(BP)It is like a man ^(BQ)going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants^[b] in charge, ^(BR)each with his work, and commands ^(BS)the doorkeeper to stay awake. ³⁵^(BT)Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, ^(BU)in the evening, or ^(BV)at midnight, or ^(BW)when the rooster crows,^[c] or ^(BX)in the morning— ³⁶lest ^(BY)he come suddenly and ^(BZ)find you asleep. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: ^(CA)Stay awake.”

Footnotes

Mark 13:33 Some manuscripts add and pray
Mark 13:34 Or bondservants
Mark 13:35 That is, the third watch of the night, between midnight and 3 a.m.

Jeremiah 49

English Standard Version

Judgment on Ammon

49 ^(A)Concerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:

“Has Israel no sons?
    Has he no heir?
Why then has ^(B)Milcom^[a] ^(C)dispossessed Gad,
    and his people settled in its cities?
²Therefore, behold, the days are coming,
    declares the Lord,
when I will cause ^(D)the battle cry to be heard
    against ^(E)Rabbah of the Ammonites;
it shall become a desolate ^(F)mound,
    and its villages shall be burned with fire;
then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,
    says the Lord.

³“Wail, O ^(G)Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
    Cry out, O daughters of ^(H)Rabbah!
^(I)Put on sackcloth,
    lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!
For ^(J)Milcom shall go into exile,
    ^(K)with his priests and his officials.
⁴Why do you boast of your valleys,^[b]
    ^(L)O faithless daughter,
^(M)who trusted in her treasures, saying,
    ‘Who will come against me?’
⁵Behold, ^(N)I will bring terror upon you,
    declares the Lord God of hosts,
    from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
    with none to gather the fugitives.

⁶“But ^(O)afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.”

Judgment on Edom

⁷Concerning ^(P)Edom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^(Q)“Is wisdom no more in ^(R)Teman?
    ^(S)Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    ^(T)Has their wisdom vanished?
⁸^(U)Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of ^(V)Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
    ^(W)the time when I punish him.
⁹^(X)If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave ^(Y)gleanings?
^(Z)If thieves came by night,
    would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
¹⁰^(AA)But I have stripped Esau bare;
    ^(AB)I have uncovered his hiding places,
    and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
    and his neighbors; and ^(AC)he is no more.
¹¹^(AD)Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
    ^(AE)and let your widows trust in me.”

¹²For thus says the Lord: ^(AF)“If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, ^(AG)will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. ¹³^(AH)For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that ^(AI)Bozrah shall become ^(AJ)a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

¹⁴^(AK)I have heard a message from the Lord,
    and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
^(AL)“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
    and rise up for battle!
¹⁵For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
    despised among mankind.
¹⁶The horror you inspire has deceived you,
    and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,^[c]
    who hold the height of the hill.
Though you ^(AM)make your nest as high as the eagle's,
    I will bring you down from there,
declares the Lord.

¹⁷^(AN)“Edom shall become a horror. ^(AO)Everyone who passes by it will be horrified ^(AP)and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸^(AQ)As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their ^(AR)neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord, ^(AS)no man shall dwell there, ^(AT)no man shall sojourn in her. ¹⁹^(AU)Behold, ^(AV)like a lion coming up from ^(AW)the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him^[d] run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. ^(AX)For who is like me? ^(AY)Who will summon me? ^(AZ)What shepherd can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against ^(BA)Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of ^(BB)Teman: ^(BC)Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall ^(BD)the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. ²²Behold, ^(BE)one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against ^(BF)Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart ^(BG)of a woman in her birth pains.”

Judgment on Damascus

²³Concerning ^(BH)Damascus:

^(BI)“Hamath and ^(BJ)Arpad are confounded,
    for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear,
    ^(BK)they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.
²⁴^(BL)Damascus has become feeble, ^(BM)she turned to flee,
    and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
    as ^(BN)of a woman in labor.
²⁵How is ^(BO)the famous city not forsaken,
    the city of my joy?
²⁶^(BP)Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
    and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
declares the Lord of hosts.
²⁷And ^(BQ)I will kindle a fire in the wall of ^(BR)Damascus,
    and it shall devour the strongholds of ^(BS)Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning ^(BT)Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down.

Thus says the Lord:
^(BU)“Rise up, advance against ^(BV)Kedar!
    Destroy ^(BW)the people of the east!
²⁹^(BX)Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
    their ^(BY)curtains and all their goods;
their camels shall be led away from them,
    and men shall cry to them: ^(BZ)‘Terror on every side!’
³⁰^(CA)Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of Hazor!
declares the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    has made a plan against you
    and formed a purpose against you.

³¹^(CB)“Rise up, advance against a nation ^(CC)at ease,
    ^(CD)that dwells securely,
declares the Lord,
^(CE)that has no gates or bars,
    that dwells alone.
³²^(CF)Their camels shall become plunder,
    their herds of livestock a spoil.
^(CG)I will scatter to every wind
    ^(CH)those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity
    from every side of them,
declares the Lord.
³³Hazor shall become ^(CI)a haunt of jackals,
    an everlasting waste;
^(CJ)no man shall dwell there;
    ^(CK)no man shall sojourn in her.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning ^(CL)Elam, in the beginning of the reign of ^(CM)Zedekiah king of Judah.

³⁵Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break ^(CN)the bow of ^(CO)Elam, the mainstay of their might. ³⁶And I will bring upon ^(CP)Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of ^(CQ)Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will ^(CR)terrify ^(CS)Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, ^(CT)my fierce anger, declares the Lord. ^(CU)I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them, ³⁸and I will set my throne in ^(CV)Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord.

³⁹“But in the latter days ^(CW)I will restore the fortunes of ^(CX)Elam, declares the Lord.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 49:1 Or their king; also verse 3
Jeremiah 49:4 Hebrew boast of your valleys, your valley flows
Jeremiah 49:16 Or of Sela
Jeremiah 49:19 Septuagint, Syriac them

Job 29

English Standard Version

Job's Summary Defense

29 And Job again ^(A)took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³when his ^(B)lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴as I was in my prime,^[a]
    when the ^(C)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my ^(D)children were all around me,
⁶when my steps were ^(E)washed with ^(F)butter,
    and ^(G)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(H)oil!
⁷When I went out to ^(I)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(J)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(K)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I ^(L)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³^(M)The blessing of him who was ^(N)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(O)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(P)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(Q)a turban.
¹⁵I was ^(R)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(S)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(T)broke ^(U)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸^(V)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(W)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(X)the sand,
¹⁹my ^(Y)roots spread out to ^(Z)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(AA)branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(AB)bow ever ^(AC)new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(AD)dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(AE)opened their mouths as for the ^(AF)spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(AG)the light of my ^(AH)face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(AI)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.