Luke 21 (New American Standard)

The Widow's Gift

1 ¹And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And He saw a poor widow putting ^ain ²two ^bsmall copper coins. 3 And He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; 4 for they all out of their ^csurplus put into the ^doffering ; but she out of her poverty put in all ^ethat she had ³to live on." 5 ⁴And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, 6 "As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which ⁵there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down." 7 They questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, when therefore will these things happen ? And what will be the ^fsign when these things are about to take place ?" 8 And He said, "See to it that you are not misled ; for many will come in My name, saying, '⁶I am He,' and, 'The time is near.' ⁷Do not go after them. 9 "When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified ; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately."

Things to Come

10 Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, 11 and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines ; and there will be terrors and great ^gsigns from heaven. 12 "But before all these things, ⁸they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, ^hbringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. 13 "⁹It will lead to ⁱan opportunity for your testimony. 14 "¹⁰So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; 15 for ¹¹I will give you ^jutterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. 16 "But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, 17 and you will be hated by all because of My name. 18 "Yet ¹²not a hair of your head will perish. 19 "¹³By your endurance you will gain your ^klives. 20 "But when you see Jerusalem ¹⁴surrounded by armies, then ^lrecognize that her desolation is near. 21 "Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of ^mthe city must leave, and ¹⁵those who are in the country must not enter ⁿthe city ; 22 because these are ¹⁶days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. 23 "Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days ; for ¹⁷there will be great distress upon the ^oland and wrath to this people ; 24 and they will fall by ¹⁸the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations ; and ¹⁹Jerusalem will be ²⁰trampled under foot by the Gentiles until ²¹the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Return of Christ

25 "There will be ^psigns in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the ^qworld ; for the powers of ^rthe heavens will be shaken. 27 "²²Then they will see ²³THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. 28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because ²⁴your redemption is drawing near." 29 Then He told them a parable : "Behold the fig tree and all the trees ; 30 as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and ²⁵know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 "So you also, when you see these things happening, ^srecognize that ²⁶the kingdom of God is near. 32 "Truly I say to you, this ^tgeneration will not pass away until all things take place. 33 "²⁷Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 34 "²⁸Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap ; 35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 "But ²⁹keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to ³⁰stand before the Son of Man." 37 Now ^uduring the day He was ³¹teaching in the temple, but ^v32at evening He would go out and spend the night on ^w33the mount that is called ^xOlivet. 38 And all the people would get up ³⁴early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.