The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ^(A)ten virgins who took their lamps^[a] and went to meet ^(B)the bridegroom.^[b]

You Must Be Ready

^35 (A)“Stay dressed for action^[a] and ^(B)keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ and be like men who are ^(C)waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and ^(D)knocks.

¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, ^(A)children of God ^(B)without blemish ^(C)in the midst of ^(D)a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine ^(E)as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast to ^(F)the word of life, so that in ^(G)the day of Christ ^(H)I may be proud that ^(I)I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

⁴² Therefore, ^(A)stay awake, for you do not know on what day ^(B)your Lord is coming. ^43 (C)But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night ^(D)the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ^(E)ready, for ^(F)the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

⁴⁵ “Who then is ^(G)the faithful and ^(H)wise servant,^[a] whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ^46 (I)Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly, I say to you, ^(J)he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master ^(K)is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants^[b] and eats and drinks with ^(L)drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come ^(M)on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know ⁵¹ and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place ^(N)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The New Jerusalem

⁹ Then came ^(A)one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of ^(B)the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(C)the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

² And I saw ^(A)the holy city, ^(B)new Jerusalem, ^(C)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(D)prepared ^(E)as a bride adorned for her husband.

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ He put another parable before them, saying, ^(A)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,

⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for ^(A)they are virgins. It is these ^(B)who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as ^(C)firstfruits for God and the Lamb,