⁴² Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day^[a] your Lord is coming.^(A)

³⁶ Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”^(A)

⁶ So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober,^(A)

¹³ Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.^[a](A)

¹⁵ (“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed,^[a] not going about naked and exposed to shame.”)^(A)

Final Messages and Greetings

¹³ Keep alert; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.^(A)

Watchful Slaves

³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;^{(A) 36} be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.^{(B) 38} If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he^[a] would not have let his house be broken into.^{(C) 40} You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”^(D)

The Necessity for Watchfulness

³⁶ “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,^[a] but only the Father.

⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.^(A)

An Urgent Appeal

¹¹ Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;^(A)