Matthew 23:27-24:14

New King James Version

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(A)For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹^(B)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[a]adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that ^(C)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²^(D)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³Serpents, ^(E)brood^[b] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ³⁴^(F)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^(G)some of them you will kill and crucify, and ^(H)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵^(I)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(J)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(K)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(L)

³⁷^(M)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets ^(N)and stones those who are sent to her! How often ^(O)I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks ^(P)under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ^(Q)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple^(R)

24 Then ^(S)Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ²And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, ^(T)not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age^(U)

³Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, ^(V)the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ^(W)“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them: ^(X)“Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵For ^(Y)many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ ^(Z)and will deceive many. ⁶And you will hear of ^(AA)wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for ^[c]all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷For ^(AB)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be ^(AC)famines, ^[d]pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹^(AD)“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹Then ^(AE)many false prophets will rise up and ^(AF)deceive many. ¹²And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow ^(AG)cold. ¹³^(AH)But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴And this ^(AI)gospel of the kingdom ^(AJ)will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.