The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet ^(A)the bridegroom.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant^(A)

^35 (B)“Let your waist be girded and ^(C)your lamps burning; ³⁶ and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for ^(A)the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

¹⁵ that you may become blameless and ^[a]harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as ^(A)lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that ^(B)I may rejoice in the day of Christ that ^(C)I have not run in vain or labored in ^(D)vain.

^42 (A)Watch therefore, for you do not know what ^[a]hour your Lord is coming. ^43 (B)But know this, that if the master of the house had known what ^[b]hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ^44 (C)Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant^(D)

^45 (E)“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food ^[c]in due season? ^46 (F)Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. ⁴⁷ Assuredly, I say to you that ^(G)he will make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸ But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master ^(H)is delaying ^[d]his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is ^(I)not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. ^(J)There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

² Then I, ^[a]John, saw ^(A)the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared ^(B)as a bride adorned for her husband.

⁴ These are the ones who were not defiled with women, ^(A)for they are virgins. These are the ones ^(B)who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These ^(C)were ^[a]redeemed from among men, ^(D)being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,

The New Jerusalem^(A)

⁹ Then one of ^(B)the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came ^[a]to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(C)the ^[b]bride, the Lamb’s wife.”