Luke 21:1-26 ▼

1 Now Jesus looked up and saw rich people dropping their gifts into the offering box.

2 Then he saw a destitute widow drop in two small copper coins.

3 He said, |I tell you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than all of them,

4 because all the others contributed to the offering out of their surplus, but she, in her poverty, dropped in everything she had to live on.|

5 Now while some people were talking about the Temple—how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God—he said,

6 |As for these things that you see, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another that won't be knocked down.|

7 Then they asked him, |Teacher, when will these things take place, and what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?|

8 He said, |Be careful that you are not deceived, because many will come in my name and say, 'I AM' and, 'The time has come.' Don't follow them.

9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, never be alarmed, because these sort of things must take place first, but the end won't come right away.|

10 Then he went on to say to them, |Nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

11 There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places, and there will be fearful events and awful signs from heaven.|

12 |But before all these things take place, people will arrest you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

13 It will give you an opportunity to testify.

14 So purpose in your hearts not to prepare your defense ahead of time,

15 because I will give you the ability to speak, along with wisdom, that none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

17 You will be hated continuously by everyone because of my name.

18 And yet not a hair on your head will be lost.

19 By your endurance you will protect your lives.|

20 |When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then understand that its devastation is approaching.

21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in the countryside must not go into it,

22 because these are the days of vengeance when all that is written will be fulfilled.

23 |How terrible it will be for those women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days!—because there will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.

24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be carried off as captives among all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the unbelievers until the times of the unbelievers are fulfilled.|

25 |There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and there will be distress on earth among the nations that are confused by the roaring of the sea and its waves.

26 People will faint from fear and apprehension because of the things that are to come on the inhabited world, because the powers of heaven will be shaken.