The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women^[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.^[b](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.

¹⁵ so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world,^{(A) 16} holding forth the word of life so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.^(B)

⁴² Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day^[a] your Lord is coming.^{(A) 43} But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.^{(B) 44} Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.^(C)

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Slave

⁴⁵ “Who, then, is the faithful and wise slave whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves^[b] their allowance of food at the proper time?^{(D) 46} Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.^{(E) 47} Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.^{(F) 48} But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. ⁵¹ He will cut him in pieces^[c] and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(G)

Vision of the New Jerusalem

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

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

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

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

⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,^(A)