Matthew 24 Cross References - Moffatt

¹ So Jesus left the temple and went on his way. His disciples came forward to point out to him the temple-buildings, ² but he replied to them, "You see all this? I tell you truly, not a stone here will be left upon another, without being torn down." ³ So as he sat on the Hill of Olives the disciples came up to him in private and said, "Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign of your arrival and of the end of the world?" ⁴ Jesus replied, "Take care that no one misleads you; ⁵ for many will come in my name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see and do not be alarmed. These have to come, but it is not the end yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm; there will be famines and earthquakes here and there. ⁸ All that is but the beginning of the trouble. ⁹ Then men will hand you over to suffer affliction, and they will kill you; you will be hated by all the Gentiles on account of my name. ¹⁰ And many will be repelled then, they will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will rise and mislead many. ¹² And in most of you love will grow cold by the increase of iniquity; ¹³ but he will be saved who holds out to the very end. ¹⁴ This gospel of the Reign shall be preached all over the wide world as a testimony to all the Gentiles, and then the end will come. ¹⁵ So when you see the appalling Horror spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing erect in the holy place (let the reader note this), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills; ¹⁷ a man on the housetop must not go down to fetch what is inside his house, ¹⁸ and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁹ Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days! ²⁰ Pray that you may not have to fly in winter or on the sabbath, ²¹ for there will be sore misery then, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now — no and never shall be. ²² Had not those days been cut short, not a soul would be saved alive; however, for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. ²³ If anyone tells you at that time, 'Here is the Christ!' or, 'there he is!' do not believe it; ²⁴ for false Christs and false prophets will rise and bring forward great signs and wonders, so as to mislead the very elect, — if that were possible. ²⁵ (I am telling you this beforehand.) ²⁶ If they tell you, 'Here he is in the desert,' do not go out; 'here he is in the chamber,' do not believe it. ²⁷ For like lightning that shoots from east to west, so will be the arrival of the Son of man. ²⁸ Wherever the body lies, there will the vultures gather. ²⁹ Immediately after the misery of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not yield her light, the stars will drop from heaven and the orbs of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the Sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven; then all tribes on earth will wail, they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. ³¹ He will despatch his angels with a loud trumpet call to muster his elect from the four winds, from the verge of heaven to the verge of earth. ³² Let the fig tree teach you a parable. As soon as its branches turn soft and put out leaves, you know summer is at hand; ³³ so, whenever you see all this happen, you may be sure He is at hand, at the very door. ³⁴ I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away till all this happens. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ³⁶ Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, but only my Father. ³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will the arrival of the Son of man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the deluge people ate and drank, married and were married, till the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and as they knew nothing till the deluge came and swept them all away; so will the arrival of the Son of man be. ⁴⁰ Then there will be two men in the field, one will be taken and one will be left; ⁴¹ two women will be grinding at the millstone, one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴² Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. ⁴⁵ Now where is the trusty and thoughtful servant, whom his lord and master has set over his household to assign them their supplies at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives! ⁴⁷ I tell you truly, he will set him over all his property. ⁴⁸ But if the bad servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of coming,' ⁴⁹ and if he starts to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with drunkards, ⁵⁰ that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know; ⁵¹ he will cut him in two and assign him the fate of the impious. There men will wail and gnash their teeth.

²³ When he entered the temple, the high priests and elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "What authority have you for acting in this way? Who gave you this authority?"

³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me again till you say, Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name."

¹ As he went out of the temple one of his disciples said to him, "Look, teacher, what a size these stones and buildings are!" ² Jesus said to him, "You see these great buildings? Not a stone shall be left on another, without being torn down." ³ And as he sat on the Hill of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him in private, ⁴ "Tell us, when is this to happen? What will be the sign for all this to be accomplished?" ⁵ So Jesus began: "Take care that no one misleads you: — ⁶ many will come in my name saying, 'I am he,' and mislead many. ⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumours of war, do not be alarmed; these have to come, but it is not the end yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm; there will be earthquakes here and there, and famines too. All that is but the beginning of the trouble. ⁹ Look to yourselves. Men will hand you over to Sanhedrins and you will be flogged in synagogues and brought before governors and kings for my sake, to testify to them. ¹⁰ (Ere the end, the gospel must be preached to all nations.) ¹¹ Now when they carry you off to trial, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; say whatever comes to your lips at the moment, for he who speaks is not you but the holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, the father will betray his child, children will rise against their parents and kill them, ¹³ and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end. ¹⁴ But whenever you see the appalling Horror standing where he has no right to stand (let the reader note this), then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills; ¹⁵ a man on the housetop must not go down into the house or go inside to fetch anything out of his house, ¹⁶ and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days! ¹⁸ Pray it may not be winter when it comes, ¹⁹ for those days will be days of misery, the like of which has never been from the beginning of God's creation until now — no and never shall be. ²⁰ Had not the Lord cut short those days, not a soul would be saved alive; but he has cut them short for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen. ²¹ If anyone tells you at that time, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or, 'Look, there he is,' do not believe it; ²² for false Christs and false prophets will rise and perform signs and wonders to mislead the elect if they can. ²³ Now take care! I am telling you of it all beforehand. ²⁴ But when that misery is past, in those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not yield her light, ²⁵ the stars will drop from heaven, and the orbs of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ Then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ Then he will despatch his angels and muster the elect from the four winds, from the verge of earth to the verge of heaven. ²⁸ Let the fig tree teach you a parable. As soon as its branches turn soft and put out leaves, you know summer is at hand; ²⁹ so, whenever you see this happen, you may be sure He is at hand, at the very door. ³⁰ I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away till all this happens. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words never. ³² Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Take care, keep awake and pray; you never know the time. ³⁴ It is like a man leaving his house to go abroad; he puts his servants in charge, each with his work to do, and he orders the porter to keep watch. ³⁵ Watch then, for you never know when the Lord of the House will come, in the late evening or at midnight or at cock-crow or in the morning. ³⁶ Watch, in case he comes suddenly and finds you asleep. ³⁷ Watch: I say it to you, and I say it to all."

⁵ Some were speaking of the temple with its ornamentation of splendid stones and votive gifts, but he said, ⁶ "As for what you see, there are days coming when not a stone will be left upon another, without being torn down." ⁷ So they asked him, "Teacher, and when will this happen? What will be the sign for this to take place?" ⁸ He said, "Take care that you are not misled; for many will come in my name saying, 'I am he' and 'the time is near' — do not go after them. ⁹ And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared; these have to come first, but the end is not at once." ¹⁰ Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm, ¹¹ there will be great earthquakes with famine and pestilence here and there, there will be awful portents and great signs from heaven. ¹² But before all that, men will lay hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons; you will be dragged before kings and governors for the sake of my name. ¹³ That will turn out an opportunity for you to bear witness. ¹⁴ So resolve to yourselves that you will not rehearse your defence beforehand, ¹⁵ for I will give you words and wisdom that not one of your opponents will be able to meet or refute. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed by your very parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you will be put to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all on account of my name; ¹⁸ but not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ Hold out stedfast and you win your souls. ²⁰ But whenever you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then be sure her desolation is not far away. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills, let those who are in the city escape, and let not those who are in the country come in to the city; ²² for these are the days of the divine Vengeance, in fulfilment of all that is written in scripture. ²³ Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days, for sore anguish will come upon the land and Wrath on this people; ²⁴ they will fall by the edge of the sword, they will be carried prisoners to all nations, and Jerusalem will be under the heel of the Gentiles till the period of the Gentiles expires. ²⁵ And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, while on earth the nations will be in dismay with bewilderment at the roar of sea and waves, ²⁶ men swooning with panic and foreboding of what is to befall the universe. For the orbs of the heavens will be shaken, ²⁷ and then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ But when these things begin to happen, look up and raise your heads, for your release is not far distant." ²⁹ And he told them a parable. "Look at the fig tree and indeed all the trees; ³⁰ as soon as they put out their leaves, you can see for yourselves that summer is at hand. ³¹ So, whenever you see all this happen, be sure the Reign of God is at hand. ³² I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away till all this happens. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words never. ³⁴ Take heed to yourselves in case your hearts get overpowered by dissipation and drunkenness and worldly anxieties, and so that Day catches you suddenly like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come upon all dwellers on the face of all the earth. ³⁶ From hour to hour keep awake, praying that you may succeed in escaping all these dangers to come and in standing before the Son of man."

²⁰ "This sanctuary took forty-six years to build," the Jews retorted, "and you are going to raise it up in three days!"

⁴⁴ and raze you and your children within you to the ground, leaving not one stone upon another within you — and all because you would not understand when God was visiting you."

¹¹ Now as all things are thus to be dissolved, what holy and pious men ought you to be in your behaviour,

¹⁰ Then the disciples came up and said to him, "Why do you speak in parables?" ¹¹ He replied, "Because it is granted you to understand the open secrets of the Realm of heaven, but it is not granted to these people.

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went indoors. And his disciples came up to him saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

³⁹ the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ Well then, just as the weeds are gathered and burnt in the fire, so will it be at the end of the world;

⁴⁹ So will it be at the end of the world. The angels will go out and separate the evil from among the just

¹² Then the disciples came up and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees have taken offence at what they hear you say?"

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"

¹ When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Hill of Olives, then Jesus despatched two disciples,

²⁷ For like lightning that shoots from east to west, so will be the arrival of the Son of man.

³² Let the fig tree teach you a parable. As soon as its branches turn soft and put out leaves, you know summer is at hand; ³³ so, whenever you see all this happen, you may be sure He is at hand, at the very door.

³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will the arrival of the Son of man be.

³⁹ and as they knew nothing till the deluge came and swept them all away; so will the arrival of the Son of man be.

⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

²⁰ and teach them to obey all the commands I have laid on you. And I will be with you all the time, to the very end of the world."

³ And as he sat on the Hill of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him in private, ⁴ "Tell us, when is this to happen? What will be the sign for all this to be accomplished?"

⁷ So they asked him, "Teacher, and when will this happen? What will be the sign for this to take place?"

²¹ So, on catching sight of him, Peter said to Jesus, "And what about him, Lord?" ²² Jesus replied, "If I choose that he should survive till I come back, what does that matter to you? Follow me yourself."

⁷ But he told them, "It is not for you to know the course and periods of time that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

¹ As regards the course and periods of time, brothers, you have no need of being written to. ² You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night; ³ when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman — escape there is none. ⁴ But, brothers, you are not in the darkness for the Day to surprise you like thieves; ⁵ you are all sons of the Light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. ⁶ Well then, we must not sleep like the rest of men, but be wakeful and sober; ⁷ for sleepers sleep by night and drunkards are drunk by night, ⁸ but we must be sober, we who belong to the day, clad in faith and love as our coat of mail, with the hope of salvation as our helmet — ⁹ for God destined us not for Wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us that waking in life or sleeping in death we should live together with him. ¹¹ Encourage one another, therefore, and let each edify the other — as indeed you are doing.

²⁶ for in that case he would have had to suffer repeatedly, ever since the world was founded. Nay, once for all, at the end of the world, he has appeared with his self-sacrifice to abolish sin.

⁵ So Jesus began: "Take care that no one misleads you: — ⁶ many will come in my name saying, 'I am he,' and mislead many.

²² for false Christs and false prophets will rise and perform signs and wonders to mislead the elect if they can.

⁸ He said, "Take care that you are not misled; for many will come in my name saying, 'I am he' and 'the time is near' — do not go after them.

¹³ 'Apostles'? They are spurious apostles, false workmen — they are masquerading as 'apostles of Christ.' ¹⁴ No wonder they do, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their doom will answer to their deeds.

¹⁴ instead of remaining immature, blown from our course and swayed by every passing wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are dexterous in devising error;

⁶ Let no one deceive you with specious arguments; these are the vices that bring down God's anger on the sons of disobedience.

⁸ Beware of anyone getting hold of you by means of a theosophy which is specious make-believe, on the lines of human tradition, corresponding to the Elemental spirits of the world and not to Christ.

¹⁸ Let no one lay down rules for you as he pleases, with regard to fasting and the cult of angels, presuming on his visions and inflated by his sensuous notions,

³ Let nobody delude you into this belief, whatever he may say. It will not come till the Rebellion takes place first of all, with the revealing of the Lawless One, the doomed One,

¹ Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves, ² and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned); ³ in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments — men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail.

¹ Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see if they come from God; for many false prophets have emerged in the world.

¹¹ Many false prophets will rise and mislead many.

²⁴ for false Christs and false prophets will rise and bring forward great signs and wonders, so as to mislead the very elect, — if that were possible.

⁴³ here am I, come in the name of my Father, and you will not accept me: let someone else come in his own name, and you will accept him!

³⁶ In days gone by Theudas started up, claiming to be a person of importance; a number of men, about four hundred of them, rallied to him, but he was slain, and all his followers were dispersed and wiped out. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean started up at the time of the census, and got people to desert to him; but he perished too, and all his followers were scattered.

⁹ Now for some time previous a man called Simon had been practising magic arts in the town, to the utter astonishment of the Samaritan nation; he made himself out to be a great person, ¹⁰ and all sorts and conditions of people attached themselves to him, declaring he was that Power of God which is known as 'the Great Power.'

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour. You have learned that 'Antichrist is coming.' Well, but many antichrists have appeared — which makes us sure it is the last hour.

⁸ and all the dwellers on earth will be his worshippers, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life.

¹⁴ This gospel of the Reign shall be preached all over the wide world as a testimony to all the Gentiles, and then the end will come.

⁵⁴ Only, how could the scriptures be fulfilled then — the scriptures that say this must be so?"

⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumours of war, do not be alarmed; these have to come, but it is not the end yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and realm against realm; there will be earthquakes here and there, and famines too. All that is but the beginning of the trouble.

⁹ And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared; these have to come first, but the end is not at once."

¹⁹ Hold out stedfast and you win your souls.

³⁷ For I tell you, this word of scripture must be fulfilled in me: he was classed among criminals. Yes, there is an end to all that refers to me."

¹ Let not your hearts be disquieted; you believe — believe in God and also in me.

²⁷ Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you; I give it not as the world gives its 'Peace!' Let not your hearts be disquieted or timid.

²⁴ saying, 'Have no fear, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And God has granted you the lives of all your fellow-voyagers.' ²⁵ Cheer up, men! I believe God, I believe it will turn out just as I have been told. ²⁶ However, we are to be stranded on an island."

² not to let your minds get easily unsettled or excited by any spirit of prophecy or any declaration or any letter purporting to come from me, to the effect that the Day of the Lord is already here.

¹⁴ Even supposing you have to suffer for the sake of what is right, still you are blessed. Have no fear of their threats, do not let that trouble you, ¹⁵ but reverence Christ as Lord in your own hearts. Always be ready with a reply for anyone who calls you to account for the hope you cherish, but answer gently and with a sense of reverence;

¹¹ there will be great earthquakes with famine and pestilence here and there, there will be awful portents and great signs from heaven.

²⁵ And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, while on earth the nations will be in dismay with bewilderment at the roar of sea and waves, ²⁶ men swooning with panic and foreboding of what is to befall the universe. For the orbs of the heavens will be shaken,

¹⁹ And I will display wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and vapour of smoke:

²⁸ one of whom, named Agabus, showed by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to visit the whole world (the famine which occurred in the reign of Claudius).

²⁷ That phrase, once again, denotes the removal of what is shaken (as no more than created), to leave only what stands unshaken.

⁸ So I looked, and there was a livid horse; its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. They were given power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill men with sword and famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

¹² And when he opened the sixth seal, I looked; and a great earthquake took place, the sun turned black as sackcloth, the full moon turned like blood,

³ when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman — escape there is none.

¹⁷ It is time for the Judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the fate of those who refuse obedience to God's gospel? ¹⁸ If the just man is scarcely saved, what will become of the impious and sinful?

¹⁷ Beware of men, they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues, ¹⁸ and you will be haled before governors and kings for my sake — it will be a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ Now, when they bring you up for trial, do not trouble yourselves about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will come to you at the moment, ²⁰ for you are not the speakers, it is the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you. ²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, the father will betray his child, children will rise against their parents and put them to death, ²² and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end.

⁶ while the rest seized his servants and ill-treated them and killed them.

³⁴ This is why I will send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, some of whom you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town;

⁹ Look to yourselves. Men will hand you over to Sanhedrins and you will be flogged in synagogues and brought before governors and kings for my sake, to testify to them. ¹⁰ (Ere the end, the gospel must be preached to all nations.) ¹¹ Now when they carry you off to trial, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; say whatever comes to your lips at the moment, for he who speaks is not you but the holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, the father will betray his child, children will rise against their parents and kill them, ¹³ and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end.

⁴⁹ This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some they will kill and some they will persecute';

¹² But before all that, men will lay hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons; you will be dragged before kings and governors for the sake of my name.

¹⁶ You will be betrayed by your very parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you will be put to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all on account of my name;

¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love what it owned; it is because you do not belong to the world, because I have chosen you from the world, that the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they hold to my word, they will hold to yours.

² They will excommunicate you; indeed the time is coming when anyone who kills you will imagine he is performing a service to God.

² who were annoyed at them teaching the people and proclaiming Jesus as an instance of resurrection from the dead. ³ They laid hands on them and, as it was now evening, put them in custody till next morning.

⁴⁰ They gave in to him, and after summoning the apostles and giving them a flogging, they released them with instructions that they were not to speak about the name of Jesus. ⁴¹ The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy of suffering dishonour for the sake of the Name;

⁵⁹ So they stoned Stephen, who called on the Lord, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

¹ It was about that time that king Herod laid hands of violence on some members of the church. ² James the brother of John he slew with the sword, ³ and when he saw this pleased the Jews, he went on to seize Peter. (This was during the days of unleavened bread.) ⁴ After arresting him he put him in prison, handing him over to a guard of sixteen soldiers, with the intention of producing him to the People after the passover. ⁵ So Peter was closely guarded in prison, while earnest prayer for him was offered to God by the church.

³¹ They were attempting to kill him, when word reached the commander of the garrison that the whole of Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² Taking some soldiers and officers, he at once rushed down to them, and when they saw the commander and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul.

¹⁹ 'But, Lord,' I said, 'they surely know it was I who imprisoned and flogged those who believed in you throughout the synagogues, ²⁰ and that I stood and approved when the blood of your martyr Stephen was being shed, taking charge of the clothes of his murderers!' ²¹ But he said to me, 'Go; I will send you afar to the Gentiles — — '" ²² Till he said that, they had listened to him. But at that they shouted, "Away with such a creature from the earth! He is not fit to live!"

²² We think it only right to let you tell your own story; but as regards this sect, we are well aware that there are objections to it on all hands."

¹⁴ for you have started, my brothers, to copy the churches of God in Christ Jesus throughout Judaea; you have suffered from your compatriots just as they have suffered from the Jews, ¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who harassed ourselves, who offend God and oppose all men ¹⁶ by hindering us from speaking words of salvation to the Gentiles. So they would fill up the measure of their sins to the last drop! But the Wrath is on them to the bitter end!

¹⁶ but if a man suffers for being a Christian, he must not be ashamed, he must rather glorify God for that.

¹⁰ Have no fear of what you are to suffer. The devil indeed is going to put some of you in prison, that you may be tested; you will have a distressful ten days. Be faithful, though you have to die for it, and I will give you the crown of Life.

¹³ I know where you dwell, where Satan sits enthroned, and yet you adhere to my Name, you have not renounced your faith in me even during the days when my witness, my faithful Antipas, was martyred in your midst — where Satan dwells.

⁹ And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain for adhering to God's word and to the testimony which they bore; ¹⁰ and they cried aloud, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long wilt thou refrain from charging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on earth?" ¹¹ But they were each given a white robe, and told to remain quiet for a little longer, until their number was completed by their fellow-servants and their brothers who were to be killed like themselves.

¹⁴ I said to him, "You know, my lord." So he told me, "These are the people who have come out of the great Distress, who washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

²¹ Brother will betray brother to death, the father will betray his child, children will rise against their parents and put them to death,

³⁵ I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶ yes, a man's own household will be his enemies.

⁶ And blessed is he who is repelled by nothing in me!"

²¹ he has no root in himself, he does not last, but when the word brings trouble or persecution he is at once repelled.

⁵⁷ So they were repelled by him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet never goes without honour except in his native place and in his home."

²¹ and as they were eating he said, "One of you is going to betray me." ²² They were greatly distressed at this, and each of them said to him, "Lord, surely it is not me." ²³ He answered, "One who has dipped his hand into the same dish as myself is going to betray me. ²⁴ The Son of man goes the road that the scripture has described for him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better that man had never been born!"

³¹ Then Jesus said to them, "You will all be disconcerted over me to-night, for it is written, I will strike at the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. ³² But after my rising I will precede you to Galilee." ³³ Peter answered, "Supposing they are all disconcerted over you, I will not be disconcerted." ³⁴ Jesus said to him, "I tell you truly, you will disown me three times this very night, before the cock crows."

¹⁷ but they have no root in themselves, they do not last; the next thing is that when the word brings trouble or persecution, they are at once repelled.

¹² Brother will betray brother to death, the father will betray his child, children will rise against their parents and kill them,

¹⁶ You will be betrayed by your very parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you will be put to death.

⁶⁰ Now many of his disciples, on hearing it, said, "This is hard to take in! Who can listen to talk like this?" ⁶¹ Jesus, inwardly conscious that his disciples were murmuring at it, said to them, "So this upsets you?

⁶⁶ After that, many of his disciples drew back and would not associate with him any longer. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go, too?"

¹⁵ You are aware that all the Asiatics have discarded me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁰ for Demas, in his love for this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens is off to Gaul, Titus to Dalmatia,

¹⁶ The first time I had to defend myself, I had no supporters; everyone deserted me. God grant it may not be brought up against them!

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets; they come to you with the garb of sheep but at heart they are ravenous wolves.

⁵ for many will come in my name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many.

³⁰ and men of your own number will arise with perversions of the truth to draw the disciples after them.

¹ But in later days, the Spirit distinctly declares, certain people will rebel against the faith; they will listen to spirits of error and to the doctrines that daemons teach

¹ Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves,

²⁶ I am writing to you in this way about those who would deceive you,

⁴ for certain persons have slipped in by stealth (their doom has been predicted long ago), impious creatures who pervert the grace of our God into immorality and disown our sole liege and Lord, Jesus Christ.

²⁰ But the Beast was seized, together with the false Prophet who had performed in his presence the miracles by means of which he seduced those who received the mark of the Beast and worshipped his statue; both of them were flung alive into the lake of fire that blazes with brimstone,

¹ Where do conflicts, where do wrangles come from, in your midst? Is it not from these passions of yours that war among your members? ² You crave, and miss what you want: you envy and covet, but you cannot acquire: you wrangle and fight — you miss what you want because you do not ask God for it; ³ you do ask and you do not get it, because you ask with the wicked intention of spending it on your pleasures. ⁴ (Wanton creatures! do you not know that the world's friendship means enmity to God? Whoever, then, chooses to be the world's friend, turns enemy to God.

¹ Come now, you rich men, weep and shriek over your impending miseries! ² your wealth lies rotting, and your clothes are moth-eaten; ³ your gold and silver lie rusted over, and their rust will be evidence against you, it will devour your flesh like fire. [Moved to the end of 5:1] You have been storing up treasure in the very last days; ⁴ See, the wages of which you have defrauded the workmen who mowed your fields call out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. ⁵ You have revelled on earth and plunged into dissipation; you have fattened yourselves as for the Day of slaughter; ⁶ you have condemned, you have murdered the righteous — unresisting.

⁴ But I have this against you: you have given up loving one another as you did at first. ⁵ Now, remember the height from which you have fallen; repent and act as you did at first. If not, I will come to you [very soon] and remove your lamp stand, unless you repent.

¹⁵ I know your doings, you are neither cold nor hot — would you were either cold or hot!

²² and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end.

⁶ You will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see and do not be alarmed. These have to come, but it is not the end yet.

¹³ and you will be hated by all men on account of my name; but he will be saved who holds out to the very end.

¹⁵ As for the seed in the good soil, that means those who hear and hold fast the word in a good and sound heart and so bear fruit stedfastly.

⁷ eternal life to those who by patiently doing good aim at glory, honour, and immortality,

⁸ and to the very end he will guarantee that you are vindicated on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁶ Christ is faithful as a Son over God's house. Now we are this house of God, if we will only keep confident and proud of our hope.

¹⁴ For we only participate in Christ provided that we keep firm to the very end the confidence with which we started,

³⁹ We are not the men to shrink back and be lost, but to have faith and so to win our souls.

²³ Then he made a tour through the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Reign, and healing all the sickness and disease of the people.

³⁵ Then Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Reign, and healing every disease and complaint.

⁷ And preach as you go, tell men, 'The Reign of heaven is near.'

¹⁹ I tell you another thing: if two of you agree on earth about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

³ So as he sat on the Hill of Olives the disciples came up to him in private and said, "Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign of your arrival and of the end of the world?"

¹⁵ And he said to them, "Go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature: ¹⁶ he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who will not believe shall be condemned.

¹ Now in those days an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world.

⁵ Then he lifted Jesus up and showed him all the realms of the universe in a single instant;

⁴⁷ and that repentance and the remission of sins must be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

² down to the day when, after issuing his orders by the holy Spirit to the disciples whom he had chosen, he was taken up to heaven.

⁶ but as they failed to find Paul and Silas they haled Jason and some of the brothers before the politarchs, yelling, "These upsetters of the whole world have come here too!

²⁵ I know to-day that not one of you will ever see my face again — not one of you among whom I moved as I preached the Reign.

¹⁸ But, I ask, "Have they never heard?" Indeed they have. Their voice carried over all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

¹⁸ I will not make free to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished by me in the way of securing the obedience of the Gentiles, by my words and by my deeds, ¹⁹ by the force of miracles and marvels, by the power of the Spirit of God. Thus from Jerusalem right round to Illyricum, I have been able to complete the preaching of the gospel of Christ — ²⁰ my ambition always being to preach it only in places where there had been no mention of Christ's name, that I might not build on foundations laid by others, ²¹ but that (as it is written) They should see who never had learned about him, and they who had never heard of him should understand.

²⁵ [Now to Him who can strengthen you by my gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, by revealing the secret purpose which after the silence of long ages ²⁶ has now been disclosed and made known on the basis of the prophetic scriptures (by command of the eternal God) to all the Gentiles for their obedience to the faith —

⁶ which has reached you as it spreads over all the world with fruit and increase. Such has been your life from the day you learned to know what God's grace really is.

²³ that is, if you adhere to the foundations and stability of the faith, instead of moving away from the hope you have learned in the gospel, that gospel which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I Paul was made a minister.

¹⁰ Because you have kept the word of my patient endurance, I will keep you safe through the hour of trial which is coming upon the whole world to test the dwellers on earth.

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven with an eternal gospel for the inhabitants of the earth, for every nation and tribe and tongue and people;

¹⁴ demon-spirits performing miracles, who come out to muster the kings of the whole world for battle on the great Day of almighty God.

¹⁴ But whenever you see the appalling Horror standing where he has no right to stand (let the reader note this), then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills;

⁴³ A time is coming for you when your enemies will throw up ramparts round you and encircle you and besiege you on every side

²⁰ But whenever you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then be sure her desolation is not far away.

⁴⁸ If we let him alone, like this, everybody will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and suppress our holy Place and our nation."

¹³ They also brought forward false witnesses to say, "This fellow is never done talking against this holy Place and the Law!

²⁸ shouting, "To the rescue, men of Israel! Here is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the People and the Law and this Place! And he has actually brought Greeks inside the temple and defiled this holy Place!"

¹ We must therefore pay closer attention to what we have heard, in case we drift away.

³ Blessed is he who reads aloud, blessed they who hear the words of this prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it; for the time is near.

²² Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."

²¹ Then let those who are in Judaea fly to the hills, let those who are in the city escape, and let not those who are in the country come in to the city; ²² for these are the days of the divine Vengeance, in fulfilment of all that is written in scripture.

⁷ It was by faith that Noah, after being told by God what was still unseen, reverently constructed an ark to save his household; thus he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that follows faith.

²⁵ Therefore I tell you, do not trouble about what you are to eat or drink in life, nor about what you are to put on your body; surely life means more than food, surely the body means more than clothes!

²⁷ what I tell you in the dark, you must utter in the open, what you hear in a whisper you must proclaim on the housetop.

¹⁵ a man on the housetop must not go down into the house or go inside to fetch anything out of his house, ¹⁶ and a man in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

¹⁹ but when they could not find any means of getting him in, on account of the crowd, they climbed to the top of the house and let him down through the tiles, mattress and all among the people in front of Jesus.

³ So all you utter in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you whisper in chambers will be proclaimed on the housetops,

³¹ On that day, if a man is on the housetop and his goods inside the house, he must not go down to fetch them out; nor must a man in the field turn back ³² (remember Lot's wife). ³³ Whoever tries to secure his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will preserve it.

⁹ Next day they were still on the road and not far from the town, when Peter went up to the roof of the house about noon to pray.

¹⁷ Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days! ¹⁸ Pray it may not be winter when it comes,

²³ Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days, for sore anguish will come upon the land and Wrath on this people;

²⁹ For there are days coming when the cry will be, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never have borne and the breasts that never have suckled!' ³⁰ Then will people say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'

¹² Then they made their way back to Jerusalem from the hill called 'The Olive-Orchard'; it is close to Jerusalem, only a sabbath day's journey from it.

²⁹ Immediately after the misery of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not yield her light, the stars will drop from heaven and the orbs of the heavens will be shaken.

⁹ Look to yourselves. Men will hand you over to Sanhedrins and you will be flogged in synagogues and brought before governors and kings for my sake, to testify to them.

⁴³ A time is coming for you when your enemies will throw up ramparts round you and encircle you and besiege you on every side ⁴⁴ and raze you and your children within you to the ground, leaving not one stone upon another within you — and all because you would not understand when God was visiting you."

²⁴ they will fall by the edge of the sword, they will be carried prisoners to all nations, and Jerusalem will be under the heel of the Gentiles till the period of the Gentiles expires.

¹⁶ by hindering us from speaking words of salvation to the Gentiles. So they would fill up the measure of their sins to the last drop! But the Wrath is on them to the bitter end!

²⁶ For if we sin deliberately, after receiving the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, ²⁷ nothing but an awful outlook of doom, of that burning Wrath which will consume the foes of God. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy, on the evidence of two or of three witnesses. ²⁹ How much heavier, do you suppose, will be the punishment assigned to him who has spurned the Son of God, who has profaned the covenant-blood with which he was sanctified, who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

¹⁴ For many are invited but few are chosen.'"

³¹ He will despatch his angels with a loud trumpet call to muster his elect from the four winds, from the verge of heaven to the verge of earth.

²⁰ Had not the Lord cut short those days, not a soul would be saved alive; but he has cut them short for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen.

⁷ And will not God see justice done to his elect who cry to him by day and night? Will he be tolerant to their opponents?

¹¹ and though the children were still unborn and had done nothing either good or bad (to confirm the divine purpose in election which depends upon the call of God, not on anything man does),

²⁵ To prevent you from being self-conceited, brothers, I would like you to understand this secret: it is only a partial insensibility that has come over Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in. ²⁶ This done, all Israel will be saved — as it is written, The deliverer will come from Sion, he will banish all godlessness from Jacob: ²⁷ this is my covenant with them, when I take their sins away. ²⁸ So far as the gospel goes, they are enemies of God — which is to your advantage; but so far as election goes, they are beloved for their father's sake. ²⁹ For God never goes back upon his gifts and call. ³⁰ Once you disobeyed God, and now you enjoy his mercy thanks to their disobedience; in the same way they at present are disobedient, ³¹ so that they in turn may enjoy the same mercy as yourselves.

¹⁰ All I endure is for the sake of the elect, to let them obtain their share of the salvation of Christ Jesus and also of eternal glory.

²¹ If anyone tells you at that time, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or, 'Look, there he is,' do not believe it;

²³ Men will say, 'See, here he is!' 'See, there he is!' but do not go out or run after them, ²⁴ for like lightning that flashes from one side of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be on his own day.

³⁷ All those will come to me who are the Father's gift to me, and never will I reject one of them;

³⁹ and the will of him who sent me is that I lose none of those who are his gift to me, but that I raise them all up on the last day.

²⁸ and I give them eternal life; they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father who gave me them is stronger than all, and no one can snatch anything out of the Father's hand. ³⁰ I and my Father are one — ."

¹⁶ This was because Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, to avoid any loss of time in Asia; he wanted to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

²⁸ We know also that those who love God, those who have been called in terms of his purpose, have his aid and interest in everything. ²⁹ For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son — that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood. ³⁰ Then he calls those whom he has thus decreed; then he justifies those whom he has called; then he glorifies those whom he has justified. ³¹ Now what follows from all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² The God who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, surely He will give us everything besides! ³³ Who is to accuse the elect of God? When God acquits, ³⁴ who shall condemn? Will Christ? — the Christ who died, yes and rose from the dead! the Christ who is at God's right hand, who actually pleads for us! ³⁵ What can ever part us from Christ's love? Can anguish or calamity or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or the sword? ³⁶ (Because, as it is written, For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.) ³⁷ No, in all this we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am certain neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, ³⁹ no powers of the Height or of the Depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to part us from God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹⁸ be at peace with all men, if possible, so far as that depends on you.

¹⁵ Now, what has become of all that? (I can bear witness that you would have torn out your very eyes, if you could, and given me them.)

⁹ that One whose arrival is due to Satan's activity, with the full power, the miracles and portents, of falsehood, ¹⁰ and with the full deceitfulness of evil for those who are doomed to perish, since they refuse to love the Truth that would save them. ¹¹ Therefore God visits them with an active delusion, till they put faith in falsehood,

¹⁹ But the solid foundation laid by God remains, and this is its inscription: the Lord knows who are his, and 'let everyone who names the name of the Lord give up evil.'

⁵ and the power of God protects you by faith till you do inherit the salvation which is all ready to be revealed at the last hour.

¹⁷ Now, beloved, you are forewarned: mind you are not carried away by the error of the lawless and so lose your proper footing;

¹⁸ We know that anyone who is born of God does not sin; He who was born of God preserves him, and the evil One never catches him.

⁹ So the huge dragon was thrown down — that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, the seducer of the whole world — thrown down to the earth, and his angels thrown down along with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now it has come, the salvation and power, the reign of our God and the authority of his Christ! — for the Accuser of our brothers is thrown down, who accused them before God day and night. ¹¹ But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they had to die for it, but they did not cling to life.

⁷ He was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them, and given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation; ⁸ and all the dwellers on earth will be his worshippers, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life.

¹³ He performs amazing miracles, even making fire descend from heaven on earth in the sight of men, ¹⁴ and by dint of the miracles he is allowed to perform in presence of the Beast, he seduces the dwellers on earth; he bids the dwellers on earth erect a statue to the Beast who lived after being wounded by the sword,

¹³ That will turn out an opportunity for you to bear witness.

¹ I have told you all this, to keep you from being repelled.

¹ In those days John the Baptist came on the scene, preaching in the desert of Judaea, ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert; ³ and he went into all the Jordan-district preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins —

³⁸ "Then you are not the Egyptian who in days gone by raised the four thousand assassins and led them out into the desert?"

²⁰ Jesus said to him, "The foxes have their holes, the wild birds have their nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

²⁸ I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death till they see the Son of man coming himself to reign."

²⁴ for like lightning that flashes from one side of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be on his own day. ²⁵ But he must first endure great suffering and be rejected by the present generation. ²⁶ And just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man; ²⁷ they were eating, drinking, marrying and being married, till the day Noah entered the ark — then came the deluge and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Or just as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting and building, ²⁹ but on the day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ So will it be on the day the Son of man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, if a man is on the housetop and his goods inside the house, he must not go down to fetch them out; nor must a man in the field turn back ³² (remember Lot's wife). ³³ Whoever tries to secure his life will lose it, and whoever loses it will preserve it. ³⁴ On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in the one bed, the one will be taken and the other left; ³⁵ two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left." ³⁶ -- ³⁷ They asked him, "Where, Lord?" And he said to them, "Where the body is lying, there the vultures will gather."

⁸ have patience yourselves, strengthen your hearts, for the arrival of the Lord is at hand.

⁴ asking, "Where is His promised advent? Since the day our fathers fell asleep, things remain exactly as they were from the beginning of creation."

³⁷ They asked him, "Where, Lord?" And he said to them, "Where the body is lying, there the vultures will gather."

⁸ All that is but the beginning of the trouble.

²¹ for there will be sore misery then, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now — no and never shall be.

²⁴ But when that misery is past, in those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not yield her light, ²⁵ the stars will drop from heaven, and the orbs of the heavens will be shaken.

¹⁹ And I will display wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and vapour of smoke: ²⁰ the sun shall be changed into darkness and the moon into blood, ere the great, open Day of the Lord arrives.

¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear.

¹² And when he opened the sixth seal, I looked; and a great earthquake took place, the sun turned black as sackcloth, the full moon turned like blood, ¹³ the stars of the sky dropped to earth as a fig tree shaken by a gale sheds her unripe figs, ¹⁴ the sky was swept aside like a scroll being folded up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. ¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the magnates, the generals, the rich, the strong, slaves and freemen everyone of them, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ calling to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb; ¹⁷ for the great Day of their anger has come, and who can stand it?"

¹² The fourth angel blew; and a stroke fell on a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so as to darken one third of them, withdrawing light from a third of the day and likewise of the night.

²⁷ For the Son of man is coming in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward everyone for what he has done. ²⁸ I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death till they see the Son of man coming himself to reign."

⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, "Even so! But I tell you, in future you will all see the Son of man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."

⁴ "Tell us, when is this to happen? What will be the sign for all this to be accomplished?"

²⁶ Then they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

⁶² Jesus said, "I am. And, what is more, you will all see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven." ⁶³ Then the high priest tore his clothes and cried, "What more evidence do we want? ⁶⁴ You have heard his blasphemy for yourselves. What is your mind?" They condemned him, all of them, to the doom of death;

²⁷ and then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

⁶⁹ But after this the Son of man will be seated at God's right hand of power."

¹¹ who said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back, just as you have seen him depart to heaven."

⁷ and repay you who are troubled (as well as us) with rest and relief, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven together with the angels of his power

⁷ Lo, he is coming on the clouds, to be seen by every eye, even by those who impaled him, and all the tribes of earth will wail because of him: even so, Amen.

⁴¹ the Son of man will despatch his angels, and they will gather out of his Realm all who are hindrances and who practise iniquity,

²² Had not those days been cut short, not a soul would be saved alive; however, for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

³¹ When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory,

¹⁸ Then Jesus came forward to them and said, "Full authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth;

²⁷ Then he will despatch his angels and muster the elect from the four winds, from the verge of earth to the verge of heaven.

⁵² and not merely for the nation but to gather into one the scattered children of God.)

¹⁹ Upon this, O king Agrippa, I did not disobey the heavenly vision; ²⁰ I announced to those at Damascus and at Jerusalem in the first instance, then all over the land of Judaea, and also to the Gentiles, that they were to repent and turn to God by acting up to their repentance.

⁵² changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet-call. The trumpet will sound, the dead will rise imperishable, and we shall be changed.

¹⁰ so to order it in the fulness of the ages that all things in heaven and earth alike should be gathered up in Christ —

¹⁶ The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a loud summons, when the archangel calls and the trumpet of God sounds; the dead in Christ will rise first;

¹ With regard to the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ and our muster before him, I beg you, brothers,

²⁰ As for the secret symbol of the seven stars which you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp stands — the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹ After that I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds from blowing on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.

² Then I saw seven trumpets being given to the seven angels who stand before God.

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew; and loud voices followed in heaven, crying, "The rule of the world has passed to our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven with an eternal gospel for the inhabitants of the earth, for every nation and tribe and tongue and people; ⁷ he cried aloud, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water." ⁸ And another, a second angel followed, crying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her vice!" ⁹ They were followed by another, a third angel, crying aloud, "Whoever worships the Beast and his statue, and lets his forehead or hand be marked,

²⁸ Let the fig tree teach you a parable. As soon as its branches turn soft and put out leaves, you know summer is at hand; ²⁹ so, whenever you see this happen, you may be sure He is at hand, at the very door.

²⁹ And he told them a parable. "Look at the fig tree and indeed all the trees; ³⁰ as soon as they put out their leaves, you can see for yourselves that summer is at hand.

³⁷ For in a little, a very little now, The Coming One will arrive without delay.

⁹ Do not murmur against one another, brothers, lest you are judged; look, the Judge is standing at the very door!

⁷ Now the end of all is near. Steady then, keep cool and pray!

²⁰ Lo, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.

⁴⁵ Then it goes off to fetch seven other spirits worse than itself; they go in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. This is how it will be with the present evil generation."

³⁶ I tell you truly, it will all come upon this generation.

³⁰ I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away till all this happens. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words never.

⁵⁰ it was that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world might be charged upon this generation,

³² I tell you truly, the present generation will not pass away till all this happens. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words never.

¹⁸ (I tell you truly, till heaven and earth pass away not an iota, not a comma, will pass from the Law until it is all in force.

² serving in hope of the life eternal which God, who never lies, promised ages ago —

¹¹ they will perish, but thou remainest, they will all be worn out like a garment, ¹² thou wilt roll them up like a mantle and they win be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years will never fail.'

²⁵ but the word of the Lord lasts for ever — and that is the word of the gospel for you.

⁷ but the present heavens and earth are treasured up by the same word for fire, reserved for the day when the impious are doomed and destroyed. ⁸ Beloved, you must not ignore this one fact, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow with what he promises, according to certain people's idea of slowness; no, he is longsuffering for your sake, he does not wish any to perish but all to betake them to repentance. ¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear. ¹¹ Now as all things are thus to be dissolved, what holy and pious men ought you to be in your behaviour, ¹² you who expect and hasten the advent of the Day of God, which dissolves the heavens in fire and makes the stars blaze and melt!

¹⁴ Then to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation.

¹⁴ the sky was swept aside like a scroll being folded up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne, and One who was seated thereon; from his presence earth and sky fled, no more to be found.

⁴² Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come.

⁴⁴ So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

¹³ Keep on the watch then, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

³² Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father.

² You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night;

³ Now remember what you received and heard, hold to it and repent. If you will not wake up, I shall come like a thief; you will not know at what hour I come upon you.

¹⁵ (Lo, I am coming like a thief; blessed be he who keeps awake and holds his raiment fast, not to go naked and have the shame of exposure!)

²⁶ And just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man; ²⁷ they were eating, drinking, marrying and being married, till the day Noah entered the ark — then came the deluge and destroyed them all.

²⁰ who had disobeyed at the time when God's patience held out during the construction of the ark in the days of Noah — the ark by which only a few souls, eight in all, were brought safely through the water.) ²¹ Baptism, the counterpart of that, saves you to-day (not the mere washing of dirt from the flesh but the prayer for a clean conscience before God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world but kept Noah, the herald of righteousness, safe with seven others, when he let loose the deluge on the world of impious men:

⁶ By water the then-existing world was deluged and destroyed,

³⁰ At the resurrection people neither marry nor are married, they are like the angels of God in heaven.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample stores laid up for many a year; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

⁴⁵ But if that servant says to himself, 'My lord and master is long of arriving,' and if he starts to beat the menservants and maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,

¹⁸ But they all alike proceeded to decline. The first said to him, 'I have bought a farm and I am obliged to go and look at it. Pray consider me excused.' ¹⁹ The second said, 'I have bought five pair of oxen and I am going to try them. Pray consider me excused.' ²⁰ Another said, 'I have married a wife; that is why I cannot come.'

²⁶ And just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man; ²⁷ they were eating, drinking, marrying and being married, till the day Noah entered the ark — then came the deluge and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Or just as it was in the days of Lot; they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting and building,

³⁴ Take heed to yourselves in case your hearts get overpowered by dissipation and drunkenness and worldly anxieties, and so that Day catches you suddenly like a trap.

¹³ let us live decorously as in the open light of day — no revelry or bouts of drinking, no debauchery or sensuality, no quarrelling or jealousy. ¹⁴ No, put on the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, and never think how to gratify the cravings of the flesh.

²⁹ I mean, brothers, — the interval has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none, ³⁰ let mourners live as if they were not mourning, let the joyful live as if they had no joy, let buyers live as if they had no hold on their goods, ³¹ let those who mix in the world live as if they were not engrossed in it, for the present phase of things is passing away.

¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables, because for all their seeing they do not see and for all their hearing they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴ In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will hear and hear but never understand, you will see and see but never perceive. ¹⁵ For the heart of this people is obtuse, their ears are heavy of hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they understand with their heart and turn again, and I cure them.

²⁰ for anyone whose practices are corrupt loathes the light and will not come out into it, in case his actions are exposed,

⁴¹ Look, you disdainful folk, wonder at this and perish for in your days I do a deed, a deed you will never believe, not though one were to explain it to you."

²⁸ Yes, as they disdained to acknowledge God any longer, God has given them up to a reprobate instinct, for the perpetration of what is improper,

⁵ They wilfully ignore the fact that heavens existed long ago, and an earth which the word of God formed of water and by water.

³⁹ One of the criminals who had been hung also abused him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well." ⁴⁰ But the other checked him, saying, "Have you no fear even of God? You are suffering the same punishment as he. ⁴¹ And we suffer justly; we are getting what we deserve for our deeds. But he has done no harm." ⁴² And he added, "Jesus, do not forget me when you come to reign." ⁴³ "I tell you truly," said Jesus, "you will be in paradise with me this very day."

⁷ Who singles you out, my brother? What do you possess that has not been given you? And if it was given you, why do you boast as if it had been gained, not given?

⁷ but rescued righteous Lot who was sore burdened by the immoral behaviour of the lawless ⁸ (for when that righteous man resided among them, by what he saw and heard his righteous soul was vexed day after day with their unlawful doings) — ⁹ then be sure the Lord knows how to rescue pious folk from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment till the day of doom,

³⁵ two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left."

³⁶ Now no one knows anything about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, but only my Father.

³⁸ he said to them, "My heart is sad, sad even to death; stay here and watch with me." ³⁹ Then he went forward a little and fell on his face praying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me. Yet, not what I will but what thou wilt." ⁴⁰ Then he went to the disciples and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, "So the three of you could not watch with me for a single hour? ⁴¹ Watch and pray, all of you, so that you may not slip into temptation. The spirit is eager but the flesh is weak."

³⁵ Keep your loins girt and your lamps lit, ³⁶ and be like men who are expecting their lord and master on his return from a marriage-banquet, so as to open the door for him at once when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the lord and master finds awake when he comes! I tell you truly, he will gird himself, make them recline at table, and come forward to wait on them. ³⁸ Whether he comes in the second or the third watch of the night and finds them thus alert, blessed are they! ³⁹ Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

³⁶ From hour to hour keep awake, praying that you may succeed in escaping all these dangers to come and in standing before the Son of man."

¹¹ And then you know what this Crisis means, you know it is high time to waken up; for Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

¹³ Watch, stand firm in the faith, play the man, be strong!

⁶ Well then, we must not sleep like the rest of men, but be wakeful and sober;

⁸ Keep cool, keep awake. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion, looking out for someone to devour.

² Wake up, rally what is still left to you, though it is on the very point of death; for I find nothing you have done is complete in the eyes of my God. ³ Now remember what you received and heard, hold to it and repent. If you will not wake up, I shall come like a thief; you will not know at what hour I come upon you.

¹¹ And on getting it they grumbled at the householder.

³⁹ Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

² You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night; ³ when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman — escape there is none. ⁴ But, brothers, you are not in the darkness for the Day to surprise you like thieves; ⁵ you are all sons of the Light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. ⁶ Well then, we must not sleep like the rest of men, but be wakeful and sober;

¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear. ¹¹ Now as all things are thus to be dissolved, what holy and pious men ought you to be in your behaviour,

¹⁰ Now while they were away buying oil, the bridegroom arrived; those maidens who were ready accompanied him to the marriage-banquet, and the door was shut.

⁴⁰ So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

⁵ Let your forbearance be known to everyone; the Lord is at hand.

⁷ Let us rejoice and triumph, let us give him the glory! For now comes the marriage of the Lamb; his bride has arrayed herself,

²⁴ Now, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts upon them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock.

¹⁶ I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise like serpents and guileless like doves.

⁵² So he said to them, "Well then, every scribe who has become a disciple of the Realm of heaven is like a householder who produces what is new and what is old from his stores."

² Five of them were stupid and five were sensible.

²¹ His master said to him, 'Capital, you excellent and trusty servant! You have been trusty in charge of a small sum: I will put you in charge of a large sum. Come and share your master's feast.'

²³ His master said to him, 'Capital, you excellent and trusty servant! You have been trusty in charge of a small sum: I will put you in charge of a large sum. Come and share your master's feast.'

³⁵ For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you entertained me, ³⁶ I was unclothed and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me.' ³⁷ Then the just will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you? or thirsty and gave you drink? ³⁸ when did we see you a stranger and entertain you? or unclothed and clothed you? ³⁹ when did we see you ill or in prison and visit you?' ⁴⁰ The King will answer them, 'I tell you truly, in so far as you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even to the least of them, you did it to me.'

⁴¹ Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us, or is it for all and sundry?" ⁴² The Lord said, "Well, where is the trusty, thoughtful steward whom the lord and master will set over his establishment to give out supplies at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives!

¹⁰ He who is faithful with a trifle is also faithful with a large trust, and he who is dishonest with a trifle is also dishonest with a large trust. ¹¹ So, if you are not faithful with dishonest mammon, how can you ever be trusted with true Riches? ¹² And if you are not faithful with what belongs to another, how can you ever be given what is your own?

¹⁷ 'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.'

¹⁵ Then after breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others do?" "Why, Lord," he said, "you know I love you." "Then feed my lambs," said Jesus. ¹⁶ Again he asked him, for the second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" "Why, Lord," he said, "you know I love you." "Then be a shepherd to my sheep," said Jesus. ¹⁷ For the third time he asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Now Peter was vexed at being asked a third time, "Do you love me?" So he replied; "Lord, you know everything, you can see I love you." Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep.

²⁸ Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you guardians; shepherd the church of the Lord which he has purchased with his own blood.

¹ But I could not discuss things with you, my brothers, as spiritual persons; I had to address you as worldlings, as mere babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not with solid food. You were not able for solid food, and you are not able even now;

¹ This is how you are to look upon us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's secret truths. ² Now in this matter of stewards your first requirement is that they must be trustworthy.

¹¹ he granted some men to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to shepherd and teach, ¹² for the equipment of the saints, for the business of the ministry, for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ, ¹³ till we should all attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of God's Son, reaching maturity, reaching the full measure of development which belongs to the fulness of Christ —

¹² I render thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has made me able for this; he considered me trustworthy and appointed me to the ministry,

² and transmit the instructions I gave you in presence of many witnesses to trustworthy men, that they may be competent to teach others.

⁵ Besides, while Moses was faithful in every department of God's house as an attendant — by way of witness to the coming revelation —

¹⁰ You must serve one another, each with the talent he has received, as efficient stewards of God's varied grace. ¹¹ If anyone preaches, he must preach as one who utters the words of God; if anyone renders some service, it must be as one who is supplied by God with power, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The glory and the dominion are his for ever and ever: Amen.

¹ Now I make this appeal to your presbyters (for I am a presbyter myself, I was a witness of what Christ suffered and I am to share the glory that will be revealed), ² be shepherds to your flock of God; take charge of them willingly instead of being pressed to it, not to make a base profit from it but freely, ³ not by way of lording it over your charges but proving a pattern to the flock.

³⁴ Then shall the King say to those on his right, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, come into your inheritance in the realm prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the lord and master finds awake when he comes! I tell you truly, he will gird himself, make them recline at table, and come forward to wait on them.

⁴³ Blessed is that servant if his lord and master finds him so doing when he arrives!

²¹ As life means Christ to me, so death means gain. ²² But then, if it is to be life here below, that means fruitful work for me. So — well, I cannot tell which to choose; ²³ I am in a dilemma between the two. My strong desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far the best.

⁶ The last drops of my own sacrifice are falling; my time to go has come. ⁷ I have fought in the good fight; I have run my course; I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now the crown of a good life awaits me, with which the Lord, that just Judge, will reward me on the great Day — and not only me but all who have loved and longed for his appearance.

¹³ so long as I am in this tent, I deem it proper to stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ since I know my tent must be folded up very soon — as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. ¹⁵ Yes, and I will see to it that even when I am gone, you will keep this constantly in mind.

¹⁹ I know your doings, your love and loyalty and service and patient endurance; I know you are doing more than you did at first.

⁴⁴ I tell you plainly, he will set him over all his property.

²⁹ so, even as my Father has assigned me royal power, ³⁰ I assign you the right of eating and drinking at my table in my Realm and of sitting on thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁶ If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall my servant be also: if anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

¹² if we endure, then we shall reign with him, if we disown him, then he shall disown us,

⁴ Then you will receive the unfading crown of glory, when the chief Shepherd makes his appearance.

²¹ 'The conqueror I will allow to sit beside me on my throne, as I myself have conquered and sat down beside my Father on his throne.'

⁷ The conqueror shall obtain this, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son;

³² Then his master summoned him and said, 'You scoundrel of a servant! I discharged all that debt for you, because you implored me.

²⁶ His master said to him in reply, 'You rascal, you idle servant! You knew, did you, that I reap where I have never sowed and gather where I have never winnowed!

²¹ From within, from the heart of man, the designs of evil come: sexual vice, stealing, murder,

²² He replied, 'You rascal of a servant, I will convict you by what you have said yourself. You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, picking up what I never put down, and reaping what I never sowed!

² so at supper, knowing that though the devil had suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

³ "Ananias," said Peter, "why has Satan filled your heart and made you cheat the holy Spirit by appropriating some of the money paid for the land?

²² So repent of this wickedness of yours, and ask God whether you cannot be forgiven for your heart's purpose.

³ To begin with, you know that mockers will come with their mockeries in the last days, men who go by their own passions, ⁴ asking, "Where is His promised advent? Since the day our fathers fell asleep, things remain exactly as they were from the beginning of creation." ⁵ They wilfully ignore the fact that heavens existed long ago, and an earth which the word of God formed of water and by water.

¹⁸ Such creatures are no servants of Christ our Lord, they are slaves of their own base desires; with their plausible and pious talk they beguile the hearts of unsuspecting people. But surely not of you!

²⁰ You put up with a man who assumes control of your souls, with a man who spends your money, with a man who dupes you, with a man who gives himself airs, with a man who flies in your face.

¹⁹ Destruction is their fate, the belly is their god, they glory in their shame, these men of earthly mind!

¹¹ they must be silenced, for they are undermining whole families by teaching objectionable doctrine for the base end of making money. ¹² It has been said by one of themselves, by a prophet of their own, that — "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

³ not by way of lording it over your charges but proving a pattern to the flock.

¹³ done out of the profits of their evil-doing. Pleasure for them is revelling in open daylight — spots and blots, with their dissipated revelling, as they carouse in your midst! — ¹⁴ their eyes are full of harlotry, insatiable for sin; their own hearts trained to lust, they beguile unsteady souls. Accursed generation!

⁹ I have written to the church; only, Diotrephes, who likes to take the lead among them, repudiates me. ¹⁰ So when I come, I shall bring up what he is doing, babbling against me with wicked words — and, not satisfied with words, he refuses to welcome the brothers, checks those who want to welcome them, and excommunicates them from the church.

¹² These people are stains on your love-feasts; they have no qualms about carousing in your midst, they look after none but themselves — rainless clouds, swept along by the wind, trees in autumn without fruit, doubly dead and so uprooted,

⁷ He was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them, and given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation;

⁶ They poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink! They deserve it!"

⁶ Then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus; and as I looked at her I marvelled greatly.

⁴² Keep on the watch then, for you never know what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the householder had known at what watch in the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ So be ready yourselves, for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

² You know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night; ³ when 'all's well' and 'all is safe' are on the lips of men, then all of a sudden Destruction is upon them, like pangs on a pregnant woman — escape there is none.

¹² while the sons of the Realm will pass outside, into the darkness; there men will wail and gnash their teeth."

¹³ Then said the king to his servants, 'Take him hand and foot, and throw him outside, out into the darkness; there men will wail and gnash their teeth.

³⁰ Throw the good-for-nothing servant into the darkness outside; there men will wail and gnash their teeth.

⁴⁶ that servant's lord and master will arrive on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know; he will cut him in two and assign him the fate of unbelievers.

²⁸ There you will wail and gnash your teeth, to see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets inside the Realm of God and yourselves put outside.