Abraham’s Death

25 Now Abraham took another wife, ^[a]whose name was Keturah. ^2 (A)She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. ³ Jokshan ^[b]became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. ^5 (B)Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; ⁶ but to the sons of ^[c]his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and ^(C)sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

⁷ These are ^[d]all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, ^(D)one hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died ^(E)in a ^[e]ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was ^(F)gathered to his people. ⁹ Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in ^(G)the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, ^10 (H)the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. ¹¹ It came about after the death of Abraham, that ^(I)God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac ^[f]lived by ^(J)Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael

¹² Now these are the records of the generations of ^(K)Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; ¹³ and these are the names of ^(L)the sons of Ishmael, by their names, ^[g]in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam ¹⁴ and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; ^(M)twelve princes according to their ^[h]tribes. ¹⁷ These are the years of the life of Ishmael, ^(N)one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was ^(O)gathered to his people. ¹⁸ They ^[i]settled from ^(P)Havilah to ^(Q)Shur which is ^[j]east of Egypt ^[k]as one goes toward Assyria; ^(R)he ^[l]settled in defiance of all his ^[m]relatives.

Isaac’s Sons

¹⁹ Now these are the records of ^(S)the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham ^[n]became the father of Isaac; ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took ^(T)Rebekah, the ^(U)daughter of Bethuel the ^[o]Aramean of Paddan-aram, the ^(V)sister of Laban the ^[p]Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and ^(W)the Lord ^[q]answered him and Rebekah his wife ^(X)conceived. ²² But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to ^(Y)inquire of the Lord. ²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ Now the first came forth red, ^(AC)all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came forth with ^(AD)his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so ^(AE)his name was called ^[r]Jacob; and Isaac was ^(AF)sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a ^[s]peaceful man, ^[t](AG)living in tents. ²⁸ Now Isaac loved Esau, because ^[u]he had ^(AH)a taste for game, ^(AI)but Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹ When Jacob had cooked ^(AJ)stew, Esau came in from the field and he was ^[v]famished; ³⁰ and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of ^[w]that red stuff there, for I am ^[x]famished.” Therefore his name was called ^[y]Edom. ³¹ But Jacob said, “^[z]First sell me your ^(AK)birthright.” ³² Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” ³³ And Jacob said, “^[aa]First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and ^(AL)sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Signs of Christ’s Return

24 ^(A)Jesus ^(B)came out from the temple and was going away ^[a]when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^(C)not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on ^(D)the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^(E)Your coming, and of the ^[b]end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(F)See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For ^(G)many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ^[c]Christ,’ and will mislead many. ⁶ You will be hearing of ^(H)wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For ^(I)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^(J)famines and earthquakes. ^8 (K)But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “^(L)Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and ^(M)you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ At that time many will ^[d](N)fall away and will ^[e]betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many ^(O)false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, ^[f]most people’s love will grow cold. ^13 (P)But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This ^(Q)gospel of the kingdom ^(R)shall be preached in the whole ^[g](S)world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Perilous Times

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ^(T)abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^(U)the holy place (^(V)let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ^17 [h]Whoever is on ^(W)the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ^18 [i]Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But ^(X)woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a ^(Y)great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no ^[j]life would have been saved; but for ^(Z)the sake of the ^[k]elect those days will be cut short. ^23 (AA)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ^[l]Christ,’ or ‘^[m]There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and ^(AB)false prophets will arise and will ^[n]show great ^[o](AC)signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even ^(AD)the ^[p]elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ^27 (AE)For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the ^(AF)coming of the ^(AG)Son of Man be. ^28 (AH)Wherever the corpse is, there the ^[q]vultures will gather.

The Glorious Return

²⁹ “But immediately after the ^(AI)tribulation of those days ^(AJ)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^(AK)the stars will fall from ^[r]the sky, and the powers of ^[s]the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then ^(AL)the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^(AM)the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And ^(AN)He will send forth His angels with ^(AO)a great trumpet and they will gather together His ^[t](AP)elect from ^(AQ)the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Parable of the Fig Tree

³² “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so, you too, when you see all these things, ^[u]recognize that ^[v]He is near, right ^(AR)at the ^[w]door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, ^(AS)this ^[x]generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ^35 (AT)Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶ “But ^(AU)of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷ For ^[y]the ^(AV)coming of the Son of Man will be ^(AW)just like the days of Noah. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^(AX)marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^(AY)Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they did not ^[z]understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^(AZ)coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then there will be two men in the field; one ^[aa]will be taken and one ^[ab]will be left. ^41 (BA)Two women will be grinding at the ^[ac](BB)mill; one ^[ad]will be taken and one ^[ae]will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴² “Therefore ^(BC)be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But ^[af]be sure of this, that ^(BD)if the head of the house had known ^(BE)at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be ^[ag]broken into. ⁴⁴ For this reason ^(BF)you also must be ready; for ^(BG)the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵ “^(BH)Who then is the ^(BI)faithful and ^(BJ)sensible slave whom his ^[ah]master ^(BK)put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that slave whom his ^[ai]master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly I say to you that ^(BL)he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ^[aj]master ^[ak]is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; ⁵⁰ the ^[al]master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, ⁵¹ and will ^[am]cut him in pieces and ^[an]assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^(BM)weeping and gnashing of teeth.