25
There! I have told you in advance!
26
So if people say to you, `Listen! He's out in the desert!' don't go; or, `Look! He's hidden away in a secret room!' don't believe it.
27
For when the Son of Man does come, it will be like lightning that flashes out of the east and fills the sky to the western horizon.
28
Wherever there's a dead body, that's where you find the vultures.
29
"But immediately following the trouble of those times, the sun will grow dark, the moon will stop shining, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in heaven will be shaken.
30
"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory.
31
He will send out his angels with a great shofar;m and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32
"Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you know that summer is approaching.
33
In the same way, when you see all these things, you are to know that the time is near, right at the door.
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Yes! I tell you that this people will certainly not pass away before all these things happen.
35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36
"But when that day and hour will come, no one knows -- not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father.
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For the Son of Man's coming will be just as it was in the days of Noach.
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Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark;
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and they didn't know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes.
40
Then there will be two men in a field -- one will be taken and the other left behind.
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There will be two women grinding flour at the mill -- one will be taken and the other left behind.
42
So stay alert, because you don't know on what day your Lord will come.
43
But you do know this: had the owner of the house known when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into.
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Therefore you too must always be ready, for the Son of Man will come when you are not expecting him.
45
"Who is the faithful and sensible servant whose master puts him in charge of the household staff, to give them their food at the proper time?