Matthew 23-25

Matthew 23

¹Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,

²saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.

³All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.

⁴For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

⁵But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments,

⁶and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

⁷the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.

⁸But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.

⁹Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.

¹⁰Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.

¹¹But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.

¹²Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁴“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.

¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’

¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’

¹⁹You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

²⁰He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it.

²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living in it.

²²He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

²⁴You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.

²⁶You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

³⁰and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.

³²Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

³³You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

³⁴Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

³⁵that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.

³⁶Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

³⁸Behold, your house is left to you desolate.

³⁹For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Matthew 24

¹Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.

²But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”

³As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.

⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.

⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.

⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.

⁸But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.

¹⁰Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.

¹¹Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray.

¹²Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.

¹³But he who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

¹⁷Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.

¹⁸Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.

¹⁹But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!

²⁰Pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on a Sabbath,

²¹for then there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.

²²Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

²³“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ don’t believe it.

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

²⁵“Behold, I have told you beforehand.

²⁶“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.

²⁷For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

²⁸For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.

²⁹“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

³⁰and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

³¹He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.

³³Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.

³⁴Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³⁶“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

³⁷As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

³⁸For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,

³⁹and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.

⁴²Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.

⁴³But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁴Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?

⁴⁶Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.

⁴⁷Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

⁴⁸But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’

⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

⁵⁰the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,

⁵¹and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

Matthew 25

¹“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

³Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,

⁴but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

⁵Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

⁶But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’

⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

⁸The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

⁹But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

¹⁰While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.

¹¹Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’

¹²But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

¹³Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

¹⁴“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them.

¹⁵To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.

¹⁶Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

¹⁷In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two.

¹⁸But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.

¹⁹“Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and settled accounts with them.

²⁰He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in addition to them.’

²¹“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²²“He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them.’

²³“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

²⁴“He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter.

²⁵I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.

²⁷You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.

²⁸Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

²⁹For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away.

³⁰Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

³¹“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

³²Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³³He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

³⁴Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

³⁶I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?

³⁸When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you?

³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’

⁴⁰“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;

⁴³I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

⁴⁴“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

⁴⁵“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’

⁴⁶These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”