Matthew 24:19-50

19That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies!

20You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest.

21Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again.

22God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen.

23At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah.” Or they may say, “There he is!” When they say that, do not believe them.

24Some people will say to you, “I am the Messiah!” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen.

25So be careful! I have told you about these things before they happen.

26Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is out there in the wilderness.” But do not go out to see who is there. Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is hiding in that secret room.” You must not believe these people.

27Lightning shines quickly and it lights up the whole of the sky from one side to the other. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns.

28If the dead body of an animal is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.

29Then after all these bad things have happened, “The sun will become dark. The moon will not shine any more. Stars will fall out of the sky. And the powerful things in the sky will shake.”

30Then people will see a powerful thing in the sky. This will show them that the Son of Man is coming. All the families of people in the world will cry because they are very sad. Then they will see the Son of Man. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky. He will have great power and bright glory.

31People will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will go in every direction. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen from every part of the earth and from every part of the sky.’

32‘Here is a lesson for you to learn about the fig tree. When the new branches on the tree start to grow, the leaves appear. Then you know that the summer will come soon.

33In the same way, you will see all these strange things happening. Then you will know that the Son of Man will come very soon. He will be like someone at the door who is ready to come in.

34I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen.

35One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.’

36Jesus then said, ‘Nobody knows the day or the hour when all these things will happen. Only God the Father knows when they will happen. The angels who are in heaven do not know. Even the Son does not know.

37Remember what happened when Noah was alive. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns to the earth.

38In Noah's time, in the days before the flood, people were eating their meals every day. Men married women and women married men. They continued to do all these things until the day that Noah went into his big boat.

39The people did not know what would happen. Then rain fell for a long time and all these people died in the deep water. When the Son of Man returns, it will happen quickly in the same way.

40At that time, it will be like this: Two men will be working in a field. God will take one man away, but he will leave the other man behind.

41Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away, but he will leave the other woman behind.

42So you must watch carefully! You do not know the day when your Master will come back.

43You can be sure about this. The master of a house does not know at what time of night a man would come to rob him. If he knew the time, he would watch his house more carefully. He would not let the robber come into his house and take away his things.

44So you must also be ready. The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not thinking about it.’

45Jesus then said, ‘You should be like a wise servant. Be someone that the master can trust. The master will choose a man like that. He will say to him, “Rule over my house and all my other servants. Give everyone their food to eat at the right time.”

46That servant will be very happy when his master comes home. His master will see that he has done everything well.

47Yes, I tell you this: The master will give that servant authority to rule over everything in his house.

48But another servant might be bad. He might say to himself, “My master will not come yet.”

49Then he begins to hit the other servants. He eats too much and he drinks too much. He meets with other people who become drunk.

50Then the master of that servant will come home and he will surprise the servant. He did not think that his master would come home on that day or at that time.