Matthew 24

Complete Jewish Bible

24 As Yeshua left the Temple and was going away, his talmidim came and called his attention to its buildings. ²But he answered them, “You see all these? Yes! I tell you, they will be totally destroyed — not a single stone will be left standing!”

³When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the talmidim came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that you are coming, and that the ‘olam hazeh is ending?”

⁴Yeshua replied: “Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! ⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. ⁷For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; ⁸all this is but the beginning of the ‘birth-pains.’ ⁹At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, ¹¹many false prophets will appear and fool many people; ¹²and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah. ¹³But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. ¹⁴And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see the abomination that causes devastation spoken about through the prophet Dani’el standing in the Holy Place”^[a] (let the reader understand the allusion), ¹⁶“that will be the time for those in Y’hudah to escape to the hills. ¹⁷If someone is on the roof, he must not go down to gather his belongings from his house; ¹⁸if someone is in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁹What a terrible time it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on Shabbat. ²¹For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again!^[b] ²²Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited.

²³“At that time, if someone says to you, ‘Look! Here’s the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ don’t believe him. ²⁴For there will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing great miracles — amazing things! — so as to fool even the chosen, if possible. ²⁵There! I have told you in advance! ²⁶So if people say to you, ‘Listen! He’s out in the desert!’ don’t go; or, ‘Look! He’s hidden away in a secret room!’ don’t believe it. ²⁷For when the Son of Man does come, it will be like lightning that flashes out of the east and fills the sky to the western horizon. ²⁸Wherever there’s a dead body, that’s where you find the vultures.

²⁹“But immediately following the trouble of those times,

the sun will grow dark,
the moon will stop shining,^[c]
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers in heaven will be shaken. ^[d]

³⁰“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn,^[e] and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory.^[f] ³¹He will send out his angels with a great shofar;^[g] and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³²“Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching. ³³In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door. ³⁴Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen. ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁶“But when that day and hour will come, no one knows — not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father. ³⁷For the Son of Man’s coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach. ³⁸Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark; ³⁹and they didn’t know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes. ⁴⁰Then there will be two men in a field — one will be taken and the other left behind. ⁴¹There will be two women grinding flour at the mill — one will be taken and the other left behind. ⁴²So stay alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But you do know this: had the owner of the house known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you too must always be ready, for the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.

⁴⁵“Who is the faithful and sensible servant whose master puts him in charge of the household staff, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will go well with that servant if he is found doing his job when his master comes. ⁴⁷Yes, I tell you that he will put him in charge of all he owns. ⁴⁸But if that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time’; ⁴⁹and he starts beating up his fellow servants and spends his time eating and drinking with drunkards; ⁵⁰then his master will come on a day the servant does not expect, at a time he doesn’t know; ⁵¹and he will cut him in two and put him with the hypocrites, where people will wail and grind their teeth!

Footnotes

Matthew 24:15 Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11
Matthew 24:21 Joel 2:2, Daniel 12:1
Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10; 3:4(2:31); 4:15(3:15)
Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 34:4; Haggai 2:6, 21
Matthew 24:30 Zechariah 12:10–14
Matthew 24:30 Daniel 7:13–14
Matthew 24:31 Isaiah 27:13

Matthew 24

The Message

Routine History

24 ^1-2Jesus then left the Temple. As he walked away, his disciples pointed out how very impressive the Temple architecture was. Jesus said, “You’re not impressed by all this sheer size, are you? The truth of the matter is that there’s not a stone in that building that is not going to end up in a pile of rubble.”

³Later as he was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, “Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?”

^4-8Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.

^9-10“They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.

^11-12“In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.

^13-14“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.

The Monster of Desecration

^15-20“But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you’ve read Daniel, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you’re working in the yard, don’t return to the house to get anything; if you’re out in the field, don’t go back and get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won’t happen during the winter or on a Sabbath.

^21-22“This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God’s chosen people, the trouble will be cut short.

The Arrival of the Son of Man

^23-25“If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and bewitching performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. But I’ve given you fair warning.

^26-28“So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!’ or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!’ don’t give them the time of day. The Arrival of the Son of Man isn’t something you go to see. He comes like swift lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it’s not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.

²⁹“Following those hard times,

Sun will fade out,
moon cloud over,
Stars fall out of the sky,
cosmic powers tremble.

^30-31“Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

^32-35“Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.

³⁶“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.

^37-39“The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away.

^39-44“The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up.

^45-47“Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation.

^48-51“But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases—abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends—the Master is going to show up when he least expects it, and it won’t be pretty. He’ll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.”

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

The Message (MSG)