Matthew 24
The full text of Matthew 24 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to point out to him the temple buildings.
2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4 Jesus answered, "Watch out that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10 At that time many will fall away, and they will betray and hate one another,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.
18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be equaled again.
22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive; but for the sake of the chosen they will be cut short.
23 At that time, if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it.
24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the chosen.
25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the wilderness,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 "Immediately after the distress of those days
"'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly powers will be shaken.'
30 "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,'
49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
50 The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
Translation notes (11)
- Matthew 24:3a The Greek word parousia means 'coming,' 'arrival,' or 'presence,' and was often used to describe a royal visit. The Greek phrase synteleia tou aionos means 'the completion' or 'consummation of the age.'
- Matthew 24:8a The Greek word odinon means 'birth pains' or 'labor pangs,' which is a common prophetic image for the suffering that comes before a new age.
- Matthew 24:15a This verse quotes Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. The phrase 'Let the reader understand' is an aside, probably from the Gospel writer, indicating that the quoted phrase requires interpretation.
- Matthew 24:22a The Greek phrase pasa sarx literally means 'all flesh,' which is a Hebrew idiom for 'every living person'; it is rendered here as 'no one would survive.' The Greek word eklektoi means 'the chosen' or 'the elect.'
- Matthew 24:28a The Greek word aetoi can mean either 'eagles' or 'vultures'; in this proverbial saying about a corpse, 'vultures' is the more likely meaning.
- Matthew 24:29a This verse uses composite Old Testament apocalyptic imagery drawn from Isaiah 13:10 and 34:4, and also relates to Joel 2:10 and Ezekiel 32:7. This is standard prophetic language describing cosmic upheaval and the fall of powerful rulers.
- Matthew 24:30a This verse echoes Daniel 7:13, which speaks of 'one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven,' and Zechariah 12:10-12, which describes the mourning of the tribes.
- Matthew 24:33a The Greek phrase engys estin can be read as 'it is near' or 'he is near'; the subject is not explicitly stated in the Greek, and the translation keeps this openness.
- Matthew 24:36a The phrase 'nor the Son' (oude ho huios) is found in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, such as Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, and in the parallel passage in Mark. Some later manuscripts omit it, apparently to reduce a theological difficulty. The critical Greek text retains this phrase, and it is preserved here without softening its meaning.
- Matthew 24:40a The Greek word paralambanetai means 'is taken' or 'received,' and aphietai means 'is left.' The text does not specify whether being 'taken' is for rescue or for judgment, and the translation preserves that openness.
- Matthew 24:51a The Greek word dichotomesei literally means 'cut in two,' which was a severe punishment. While some interpret it figuratively as 'cut off' or 'severely punish,' the strong literal sense is kept in this translation.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Greek and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Matthew, is free to read here on the web.
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