Book of Common Prayer

2 My brothers, we want to talk to you about the time when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again and we are taken to meet him.

² Do not let your minds be easily upset. Do not be troubled by a spirit, or a message, or a letter. Do not be troubled if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Some people will say it came from us.

³ Do not let anyone fool you in any way. Before the day of the Lord comes, many people will stop believing God. The Man of Evil will be seen. He is the evil one who will be destroyed for ever.

⁴ He will put himself against God. He will put himself above everything to do with God, and above everything that people worship. He will sit in God's holy place and tell people that he is God.

⁵ You remember that I told you these things when I was still with you.

⁶ And you know what is holding that evil man back. He will not be seen until it is his time to be seen.

⁷ The plan to make people wrong has already begun to work. But someone is holding back that plan. He will stop the law-breaker for a time.

⁸ Then that evil man will be seen. The Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath from his mouth. The coming of the Lord Jesus will be so bright and wonderful that it will put the evil man to an end.

⁹ The coming of the evil man is the work of Satan. He will come in great power with signs that are not true, and wonderful things.

¹⁰ And by his bad tricks he will fool people who are lost. They will not love the true message which would have saved them.

¹¹ That is why God lets them be fooled so that they will believe what is not true.

¹² They will all be judged. I mean the people who have not believed in the true message but who wanted to do what is wrong.

22 It was near the time for the feast with bread that has no yeast in it. This is called the Passover Feast.

² The chief priests and the scribes planned how to kill Jesus. But they feared the people.

³ Satan came into the heart of Judas. Judas was one of the twelve disciples. His other name was Iscariot.

⁴ Judas went away and talked things over with the chief priests and captains. He told them how he could help them catch Jesus.

⁵ They were glad, and they said they would give him money for it.

⁶ He agreed. He watched for a good way to help them catch Jesus when there were not too many people around.

⁷ It was the day of the feast with bread that has no yeast in it. The sheep had to be killed for the Passover Feast,

⁸ So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying to them, `Go and get the Passover Feast ready for us to eat.'

⁹ They asked, `Where do you want us to get it ready?'

¹⁰ He said, `When you go into the city, a man carrying a pot of water will meet you. Follow him into the house where he goes.

¹¹ Tell the master of the house, "The Teacher says, `Where is the room where I can eat the Passover Feast with my disciples?' "

¹² He will show you a large room upstairs. It will be all fixed up. Make it ready there.'

¹³ So they went and found everything just the way Jesus had said. Then they made the Passover food ready.