Praise to the Lord from Creation

Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees^(A)

23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ² saying: ^(B)“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ Therefore whatever they tell you ^[a]to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for ^(C)they say, and do not do. ^4 (D)For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵ But all their works they do to ^(E)be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ^6 (F)They love the ^[b]best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ^8 (G)But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your ^[c]Teacher, ^[d]the Christ, and you are all brethren. ⁹ Do not call anyone on earth your father; ^(H)for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹ But ^(I)he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ^12 (J)And whoever exalts himself will be ^[e]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be ^[f]exalted.

¹³ “But ^(K)woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ^14 [g]Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(L)For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of ^[h]hell as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, ^(M)blind guides, who say, ^(N)‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁷ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold ^(O)or the temple that ^[i]sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁹ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift ^(P)or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰ Therefore he who ^[j]swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. ²¹ He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by ^(Q)Him who ^[k]dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven, swears by ^(R)the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(S)For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and ^(T)have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(U)For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[l]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

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

^29 (W)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[m]adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and 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 ^(X)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (Y)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³ Serpents, ^(Z)brood^[n] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ^34 (AA)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^(AB)some of them you will kill and crucify, and ^(AC)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ^35 (AD)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(AE)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(AF)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(AG)

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

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple^(AM)

24 Then ^(AN)Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, ^(AO)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^(AP)

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

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

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

The Great Tribulation^(BF)

^15 (BG)“Therefore when you see the ^(BH)‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” ^(BI)(whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁹ But ^(BJ)woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For ^(BK)then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; ^(BL)but for the ^[q]elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

^23 (BM)“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For ^(BN)false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, ^(BO)if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand.

²⁶ “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. ^27 (BP)For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ^28 (BQ)For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Coming of the Son of Man^(BR)

^29 (BS)“Immediately after the tribulation of those days ^(BT)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ^30 (BU)Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, ^(BV)and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ^31 (BW)And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His ^[r]elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree^(BX)

³² “Now learn ^(BY)this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So you also, when you see all these things, know ^(BZ)that ^[s]it is near—at the doors! ³⁴ Assuredly, I say to you, ^(CA)this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. ^35 (CB)Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

No One Knows the Day or Hour^(CC)

^36 (CD)“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of ^[t]heaven, ^(CE)but My Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ^38 (CF)For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ^40 (CG)Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ^42 (CH)Watch therefore, for you do not know what ^[u]hour your Lord is coming. ^43 (CI)But know this, that if the master of the house had known what ^[v]hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ^44 (CJ)Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant^(CK)

^45 (CL)“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food ^[w]in due season? ^46 (CM)Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. ⁴⁷ Assuredly, I say to you that ^(CN)he will make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸ But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master ^(CO)is delaying ^[x]his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is ^(CP)not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. ^(CQ)There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.