Beginning
24 Jesus left the temple and was going away. His disciples came to him. They wanted to show him the different buildings that were a part of the temple.
2 But Jesus answered them, `Do you see these buildings? I tell you the truth. Not one stone here will be left on top of another stone. They will all be thrown down!'
3 Jesus was sitting on the hill called the Mount of Olives. The disciples came to him alone. They said, `Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign to show you are coming and that it is the end of this world?'
4 Jesus answered them, `Take care. Do not let anyone fool you.
5 Many men will come in my name. They will say, "I am the Christ". They will fool many people.
6 You will hear about wars. You will hear that war is coming. But do not fear. These things must happen, but that is not yet the end.
7 One tribe will fight against another tribe. And one country will fight against another country. The people will have no food to eat. Many people will be sick. The earth will shake in many different places.
8 All these troubles are only the beginning of troubles that will come.
9 `Then people will trouble you and kill you. All nations will hate you because you are true to me.
10 Then many people will stop believing. They will give one another over to trouble. They will hate one another.
11 Many people will come and say they are prophets of God. But they will not be true. They will fool many people.
12 People will do more and more wrong things and many people will stop loving me.
13 But the person who keeps on being true to me until the end, that one will be saved.
14 This good news about the kingdom will be told in all the world. The people in all countries must know about it. And then the end will come.'
15 `Daniel the prophet said that people would put something very bad in the temple.' (Let the one who reads this understand it.)
16 `When that happens, the people in Judea must go quickly to the hills.
17 A person who is on the top of a house must not go down into the house to get things from the house.
18 A person who is working in the fields must not go back home to get his coat.
19 In those days it will be very hard for women who are to have a child. It will be very hard for mothers who have a baby.
20 Ask God that you may not have to go in the cold time of the year or on the Sabbath day.
21 The trouble then will be bigger than any other trouble since God made the world. And there never will be any trouble as big as that.
22 No person would be saved if the Lord did not cut the time of trouble shorter. He will cut it shorter for the sake of his chosen people.
23 `If anyone says to you then, "Look, here is the Christ!" or "There he is!" do not believe it.
24 People will come and say they are the Christ. People will come and say they are prophets. But they are not true. They will show big signs and do wonderful things to fool people. They will fool God's chosen people if they can.
25 Watch! I have told you these things before they happen.
26 So if people say to you, "He is in the wilderness," do not go there. If they say, "He is hiding somewhere," do not believe it.
27 When lightning shines in the east, it can be seen in the west. It will be like that when the Son of Man comes.
28 The big birds that eat meat will all go to the place where the dead body is.'
29 `Right after that time of trouble, the sun will be dark. The moon will not shine. The stars will fall from the sky. And the powers in the sky will be shaken.
30 Then people will see the sign of the Son of Man in the sky. Then all the people of the earth will cry. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky. He will have much power and will be very great.
31 He will send his angels to call with a loud trumpet or horn. They will gather his chosen people from everywhere all over the earth.'
32 `Learn a lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its branches begin to grow and the leaves come, then you know it will soon be the warm time of the year.
33 It is the same when you see all these things. You will know that the time is very near, right at the door.
34 I tell you the truth. The people who are living then, will not die before all these things happen.
35 The sky and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.'
36 `But no one knows the day and the hour when the Son of Man will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son do not know. Only the Father knows.
37 When the Son of Man comes, it will be as it was in the time of Noah.
38 In the days before the water covered the earth, people ate and drank. They married and gave their daughters to be married. Then one day Noah went into his house built on a boat.
39 The people did not know until much water came and killed them all. When the Son of Man comes, it will be like that.
40 Two men will be working together in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left.
41 Two women will be making flour together. One woman will be taken away and one woman will be left.
42 So watch! You do not know what day your Lord will come.
43 And remember this. The owner of the house does not know at what time of the night a man will come to steal something. If he knew, he would watch and not let the man break into his house.
44 So, be ready! The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not looking for him.
45 `Who is like a wise servant who can be trusted? His master will put him in charge of his other servants. He gives them their food at the right time.
46 The servant who is doing this when his master comes, will be blessed.
47 I tell you the truth. His master will put him in charge of all that he has.
48 But if the servant is bad, he will say to himself, "My master will not come just now."
49 Then he will begin to beat the other servants. He will eat and drink with men who are drunk.
50 The master of that servant will come on a day the servant is not looking for him. He will not know the time he is coming home.
51 The master will punish him and lock him in with people who are not true. People there will cry and grind [make a noise with] their teeth.'
25 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet a man who was being married.
2 Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise.
3 The five foolish women took their lamps but took no oil with them.
4 The wise ones took bottles of oil with their lamps.
5 `It was a long time before the man came, so they all went to sleep.
6 At midnight there was a call, "Here comes the man who is to be married! Come out to meet him."
7 Then all the young women woke up. They cleaned their lamps.
8 The foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Give us some of your oil. The light in our lamps is dying."
9 But the wise ones answered, "There may not be enough oil for us all. Go to the market and buy some for yourselves."
10 `While they went away to buy oil, the man came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. Then the door was shut.
11 After that, the other women also came. They called, "Sir, sir, open the door for us."
12 But he said, "I tell you the truth. I do not know you."
13 So watch! You do not know the day or the hour.'
14 `The kingdom of heaven will be like the time a man went to a country far away. He called his servants and put them in charge of his money.
15 He gave five bags of money to one servant. He gave two bags of money to another servant. He gave one bag of money to another servant. He gave to each one what he was able to be in charge of. Then he went away.
16 `Right away the servant who had five bags of money began to buy and sell things with it. He made five bags of money more than he had at first.
17 `The servant who had two bags of money did the same thing as the one who had five bags. He also made two bags of money more than he had at first.
18 But the man who had only one bag of money dug a hole in the ground. And he hid his master's money in the ground.
19 `After a long time, the master of those servants came home. He asked what they had done with his money.
20 The servant who had been given five bags of money brought five bags more to his master. He said, "Sir, you gave me five bags of money. See, I have made five bags more money."
21 `His master said, "You have done well. You are a good servant. I can trust you. You have taken good care of a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come, have a good time with your master."
22 `The servant who had been given two bags of money came and said to his master, "Sir, you gave me two bags of money. I have made two bags more money."
23 His master said, "You have done well. You are a good servant. I can trust you. You have taken good care of a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come, have a good time with your master."
24 `The servant who had been given one bag of money came and said, "Sir, I knew that you were a hard man. You cut grain where you did not plant. You pick fruit where you put nothing in.
25 I was afraid. So I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is your money."
26 `His master answered him, "You are a bad and lazy servant. You knew that I cut grain where I did not plant. You knew that I pick fruit where I put nothing in.
27 You should have put my money in the bank. Then when I came home, I would have had my money with interest on it.
28 So take the money away from him. Give it to the one who has ten bags.
29 Anyone who has some will get more, and he will have plenty. But he who does not get anything, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.
30 Take this good-for-nothing servant! Put him out in the dark place outside. People there will cry and make a noise with their teeth." '
31 `The Son of Man will be great and will come with all his holy angels. Then he will sit on his throne like a king.
32 All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will put them in two groups like a man who takes care of sheep. He puts the sheep on one side of him and he puts the goats on the other side of him.
33 The Son of Man will put people who are like the sheep at his right side. He will put people who are like the goats at his left side.
34 Then the King will say to those who are at his right side, "Come! My Father has blessed you. The kingdom was made ready for you when the world was first made. Come into it now.
35 I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave me a drink. I was a stranger. You took me in.
36 I needed clothes. You gave me clothes. I was sick. You came to visit me. I was in prison. You came to see me."
37 `Then the good people will ask him, "Lord when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you a drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in? When did we see you needing clothes and give you clothes?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and come to see you?"
40 `The King will answer them, "I tell you the truth. What you did for even the smallest of these people you did for me. They are my brothers."
41 `Then he will say to those at the left side "Go away from me. You are cursed. Go into the fire that burns for ever. That fire has been made ready for the devil and his angels.
42 I was hungry. You did not give me food. I was thirsty. You did not give me a drink.
43 I was a stranger. You did not take me in. I needed clothes. You did not give me any clothes. I was sick and in prison. You did not come to see me."
44 `Then they will also ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not help you?"
45 `Then the King will answer them, "I tell you the truth. What you did not do for even the smallest of these, you did not do for me."
46 And they will go away to be punished for ever. But the good people will go away to live for ever.'
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications