Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹ `But you must take care. Men will take you to court. They will beat you in their meeting houses. They will take you to rulers and kings because you are true to me. You will talk to them about me.

¹⁰ The good news must first be told to all people.

¹¹ When men take you to court, do not be troubled about what you will say. Say whatever comes to your mind at that time. It is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.

¹² A brother will take his brother to be killed. A father will take his child. The children will talk against their father and mother and have them killed.

¹³ All people will hate you because you are true to me. But the person who keeps on being true to me until the end will be saved.

¹⁴ `Daniel the Man of God said that people would put something very bad in the temple.' (Let the one who reads this understand it.) `When that happens, the people in Judea must go quickly to the hills.

¹⁵ A person who is on the top of a house must not go down into the house to get things.

¹⁶ Those who are working in the fields must not go back to get their coats.

¹⁷ 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 babies.

¹⁸ Ask God that you may not have the trouble in the cold time of the year.

¹⁹ The trouble then will be bigger than any trouble since God made the world. And there never will be any trouble as big as that.

²⁰ No person would be saved if the Lord did not make the time of trouble shorter. He will make it shorter for the sake of his chosen people.

²¹ `If anyone says to you then, "Look, here is the Christ!" or, "There he is!" do not believe it.

²² People will come and say they are the Christ. People will come and say they are prophets of God. But they are not true to themselves. They will show big signs and do wonderful things that will fool people. They will fool God's chosen people if they can.

²³ Watch! I have told you all these things before they happen.