Signs of the End^(A)

¹⁵ “So when you see the destructive desecration, mentioned by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader take note),^{[a] 16} then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Anyone who’s on the housetop must not come down to get what is in his house, ¹⁸ and anyone who’s in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

¹⁹ “How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ Pray that it may not be in winter or on a Sabbath when you flee, ²¹ because at that time there will be great suffering,^[b] the kind that hasn’t happened from the beginning of the world until now and certainly won’t ever happen again. ²² If those days hadn’t been shortened, no one^[c] would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.

²³ “At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look here! The Messiah!’^[d] or ‘There he is!’,^[e] don’t believe it, ²⁴ because false messiahs^[f] and false prophets will have arisen and will produce great signs and startling demonstrations so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Remember, I’ve told you beforehand. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Look! He’s in the wilderness,’ don’t go out looking for him.^[g] And if they say, ‘Look! He’s in the storeroom,’ don’t believe it, ²⁷ because just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there’s a corpse, there the vultures^[h] will gather.