Matthew 24
EasyEnglish Bible
Jesus talks about the temple
24 Jesus left the temple. While he was leaving, his disciples came to him. They began to talk to him about the buildings of the temple. 2 So Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, you can see all these beautiful buildings now. But I tell you this: Enemies will completely destroy them.[a] Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’
3 After that, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. While he was alone, his disciples came to him. They said to him, ‘Please tell us when all these things will happen. Also tell us what will show us that you will soon return? What will show us that the world will soon end?’
4 Jesus said, ‘You must be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. 5 Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” Many people will believe their false words. 6 You will hear about wars. You will hear reports about wars in other places. But you must not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but it is not yet the end of everything. 7 People in one country will attack the people in another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. In some places, people will be hungry, with no food. The ground will shake in many different places. 8 All those things will be like the first pains that a mother has before her baby is born.
9 Then people will take hold of you and they will give you pain. They will even kill some of you. People in every country will hate you because you are my disciples. 10 At that time, many people who believe in me will stop believing. They will put some of my disciples in the power of their rulers. They will hate each other. 11 Also at that time, many people will say that they are prophets from God. Their message is false, but many people will believe them. 12 More and more people everywhere will be doing very bad things. Because of this, many people will no longer love each other in the way that they did before. 13 But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. 14 People will tell the good news about God's kingdom to people all over the world. People in every country will hear the true message from God. Then God will cause the world to come to an end.
15 Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) 16 At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.
17 A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into his house.[b] He must not stop to get anything from his home to take with him. 18 People who are outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. They must not even go to fetch their coats. 19 That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! 20 You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest. 21 Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. 22 God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen. 23 At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah.” Or they may say, “There he is!” When they say that, do not believe them. 24 Some people will say to you, “I am the Messiah!” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. 25 So be careful! I have told you about these things before they happen.
26 Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is out there in the wilderness.” But do not go out to see who is there. Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is hiding in that secret room.” You must not believe these people. 27 Lightning shines quickly and it lights up the whole of the sky from one side to the other. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns. 28 If the dead body of an animal is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.[c]
29 Then after all these bad things have happened,
“The sun will become dark.
The moon will not shine any more.
Stars will fall out of the sky.
And the powerful things in the sky will shake.”[d]
30 Then people will see a powerful thing in the sky. This will show them that the Son of Man is coming. All the families of people in the world will cry because they are very sad. Then they will see the Son of Man. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky. He will have great power and bright glory. 31 People will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will go in every direction. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen from every part of the earth and from every part of the sky.’
Jesus tells a story about a fig tree
32 ‘Here is a lesson for you to learn about the fig tree. When the new branches on the tree start to grow, the leaves appear. Then you know that the summer will come soon. 33 In the same way, you will see all these strange things happening. Then you will know that the Son of Man will come very soon. He will be like someone at the door who is ready to come in. 34 I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. 35 One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.’
Nobody will know when the Son of Man will return
36 Jesus then said, ‘Nobody knows the day or the hour when all these things will happen. Only God the Father knows when they will happen. The angels who are in heaven do not know. Even the Son does not know. 37 Remember what happened when Noah was alive.[e] It will be like that when the Son of Man returns to the earth. 38 In Noah's time, in the days before the flood, people were eating their meals every day. Men married women and women married men. They continued to do all these things until the day that Noah went into his big boat. 39 The people did not know what would happen. Then rain fell for a long time and all these people died in the deep water. When the Son of Man returns, it will happen quickly in the same way. 40 At that time, it will be like this: Two men will be working in a field. God will take one man away, but he will leave the other man behind. 41 Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away, but he will leave the other woman behind.
42 So you must watch carefully! You do not know the day when your Master will come back. 43 You can be sure about this. The master of a house does not know at what time of night a man would come to rob him. If he knew the time, he would watch his house more carefully. He would not let the robber come into his house and take away his things. 44 So you must also be ready. The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not thinking about it.’
Jesus tells a story about two servants
45 Jesus then said, ‘You should be like a wise servant. Be someone that the master can trust. The master will choose a man like that. He will say to him, “Rule over my house and all my other servants. Give everyone their food to eat at the right time.” 46 That servant will be very happy when his master comes home. His master will see that he has done everything well. 47 Yes, I tell you this: The master will give that servant authority to rule over everything in his house. 48 But another servant might be bad. He might say to himself, “My master will not come yet.” 49 Then he begins to hit the other servants. He eats too much and he drinks too much. He meets with other people who become drunk. 50 Then the master of that servant will come home and he will surprise the servant. He did not think that his master would come home on that day or at that time. 51 Then the master will punish him a lot. He will put the servant with those people who do not obey him. The people in that place will cry and they will bite their teeth together.’
Footnotes
- 24:2 Jesus is talking about when the Romans would destroy Jerusalem in the year AD 70.
- 24:17 At that time, people often sat on the roof of their house after they had finished their work. The roof was flat, and it was cool there. People told each other news across the roofs. There were steps outside the house up onto the roof.
- 24:28 People know if there is a dead animal on the ground. When they see vultures flying in the sky, they know. In the same way, people will see the things happening that Jesus talked about. Then they will know that he will soon return.
- 24:29 See Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Joel 2:10.
- 24:37 We can read the story about Noah in Genesis 6. God sent the flood very quickly when the people were not thinking about it. Jesus will also return quickly when people are not thinking about it.
Matthew 24
1599 Geneva Bible
24 2 The destruction of the Temple. 4 The signs of Christ’s coming. 12 Iniquity. 23 False Christs. 29 The signs of the end of the world. 31 The Angels. 32 The fig tree. 37 The days of Noah. 42 We must watch. 45 The servant.
1 And (A)Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple, and his disciples came to him, to show him the building of the Temple.
2 [a]And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, (B)there shall not be here left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be cast down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him apart, saying, Tell us when these things shall be, and what sign shall be of thy coming, and of the end of the world.
4 [b]And Jesus answered, and said unto them, (C)Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my Name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars: see that ye be not (D)troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the [c]end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and realm against realm, and there shall be famine, and pestilence, and earthquakes in [d]divers places.
8 All these are but the beginning of [e]sorrows.
9 (E)Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my Name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall be increased, the love of many shall be cold.
13 (F)[f]But he that endureth to the end, he shall be saved.
14 And this [g]Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached through the whole [h]world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
15 ¶ [i]When ye (G)therefore shall see the [j]abomination of desolation spoken of by (H)Daniel the Prophet, set in the holy place (let him that readeth consider it.)
16 Then let them which be in Judea, flee into the mountains.
17 Let him which is on the housetop, not come down to fetch anything out of his house.
18 And he that is in the field, let not him return back to fetch his [k]clothes.
19 And woe shall be to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
20 But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the (I)[l]Sabbath day.
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be.
22 And except [m]those days should be shortened, there should no [n]flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23 (J)Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and [o]shall show great signs and wonders, so that if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret places, believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the East, and is seen into the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 (K)[p]For wheresoever a dead [q]carcass is, thither will the Eagles be gathered together.
29 (L)[r]And immediately after the tribulations of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
30 And then shall appear the [s]sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the [t]kindreds of the earth [u]mourn, (M)and they shall see the Son of man [v]come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 (N)And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the [w]four winds, and from the one end of the heavens unto the other.
32 [x]Now learn the parable of the fig tree: when her bough is yet [y]tender, and it putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.
33 So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that the kingdom of God is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, this [z]generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
35 (O)[aa]Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
36 [ab]But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels of heaven, but my father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so likewise shall the coming of the Son of man be.
38 (P)For as in the days before the flood, they did [ac]eat and drink, marry, and give in marriage, unto the day that Noah entered into the Ark,
39 And knew nothing, till the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 (Q)[ad]Then two shall be in the fields, the one shall be received, and the other shall be refused.
41 [ae]Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be received, and the other shall be refused.
42 (R)[af]Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your master will come.
43 (S)Of this be sure, that if the good man of the house knew at what watch the thief would come, he would surely watch, and not suffer his house to be dug through.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in the hour that ye think not, will the Son of man come.
45 (T)Who then is a faithful servant and wise, whom his master hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his master when he cometh, shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My master doth defer his coming,
49 And begin to smite his fellows, and to eat, and to drink with the drunken,
50 That servant’s master will come in a day, when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And will [ag]cut him off, and give him his portion with hypocrites: (U)there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes
- Matthew 24:2 The destruction of the city, and especially of the Temple is foretold.
- Matthew 24:4 The Church shall have a continual conflict with infinite miseries and offences, and that more is, with false prophets, until the day of victory and triumph cometh.
- Matthew 24:6 That is, when those things are fulfilled, yet the end shall not come.
- Matthew 24:7 Everywhere.
- Matthew 24:8 Word for word, of great torments, like unto women in travail.
- Matthew 24:13 The Gospel shall be spread abroad, rage the devil never so much: and they which do constantly believe, shall be saved.
- Matthew 24:14 Joyful tidings of the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 24:14 Through all that part that is dwelt in.
- Matthew 24:15 The Kingdom of Christ shall not be abolished when the city of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but shall be stretched out even to the end of the world.
- Matthew 24:15 The abomination of desolation, that is to say, which all men detest and cannot abide, by reason of the foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaketh of the idols that were set up in the Temple, or as others think, he meant the morning of the doctrine in the Church.
- Matthew 24:18 This betokeneth the great fear that shall be.
- Matthew 24:20 It was not lawful to take a journey on the Sabbath day; Josephus, book 13.
- Matthew 24:22 Those things which befell the people of the Jews, in the 34 years, when as the whole land was wasted, and at length the city of Jerusalem taken, and both it and their Temple destroyed, are mixed with those which shall come to pass before the last coming of our Lord.
- Matthew 24:22 The whole nation should utterly be destroyed: and this word Flesh is by a figure taken for man, as the Hebrews used to speak.
- Matthew 24:24 Shall openly lay forth great signs for men to behold.
- Matthew 24:28 The only remedy against the furious rage of the world, is to be gathered and joined to Christ.
- Matthew 24:28 Christ, who will come with speed and his presence will be with a majesty to whom all shall flock even as Eagles.
- Matthew 24:29 Everlasting damnation shall be the end of the security of the wicked, and everlasting bliss, of the miseries of the godly.
- Matthew 24:30 The exceeding glory and majesty, which shall bear witness, that Christ the Lord of heaven and earth draweth near to judge the world.
- Matthew 24:30 All nations: and he alludeth to the dispersion which we read of, Gen. 10 and 11, or to the dividing of the people of Israel.
- Matthew 24:30 They shall be in such sorrow, that they shall strike themselves: and it is transferred to the mourning.
- Matthew 24:30 Sitting upon the clouds, as he was taken up into heaven.
- Matthew 24:31 From the four quarters of the world.
- Matthew 24:32 If God hath prescribed a certain order to nature, much more hath he done so to his eternal judgments, but the wicked understand it not, or rather make a mock at it: but the godly do mark it, and wait for it.
- Matthew 24:32 When his tenderness showeth that the sap which is the life of the tree, is come from the root into the bark.
- Matthew 24:34 This age: this word generation or Age, being used for the men of this age.
- Matthew 24:35 The Lord doth now begin the judgment, which he will make an end of in the latter day.
- Matthew 24:36 It is sufficient for us to know that God hath appointed a latter day for the restoring of all things, but when it shall be, it is hidden from us all, for our profit, that we may be so much the more watchful, that we be not taken as they were in old time in the flood.
- Matthew 24:38 The word which the Evangelist useth, expresseth the matter more fully than ours doth: for it is a word which is proper to brute beasts: and his meaning is, that in those days men shall be given to their bellies like unto brute beasts: for otherwise it is no fault to eat and drink.
- Matthew 24:40 Against them that persuade themselves that God will be merciful to all men, and do by that means give over themselves to sin, that they may in the meanwhile live in pleasure void of all care.
- Matthew 24:41 The Greek women and the Barbarians did grind and bake. (Plutarch, book Problem)
- Matthew 24:42 An example of the horrible carelessness of men in those things whereof they ought to be most careful.
- Matthew 24:51 To wit, from the rest, or will cut him into two parts, which was a most cruel kind of punishment, wherewith as Justin Martyr witnesseth, Isaiah the Prophet was executed by the Jews: the like kind of punishment we read of, 1 Sam. 15:33 and Dan. 3:29.
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