Matthew

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away. His followers came to him to point out the temple buildings.

2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

2Jesus said to them, "Do you see all this? I tell you the truth: not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down."

3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

3Later he sat on the Mount of Olives. His followers came to him alone and asked, "When will this happen? What sign will show your coming and the end of the age?"

4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

4Jesus answered them, "Be careful. Do not let anyone fool you.

5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

5Many people will come using my name. They will say, 'I am the Christ, the king God promised to send.' They will fool many.

6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

6You will hear of wars and reports of wars. Do not be upset. These things must happen, but the end is not here yet.

7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

7Nation will fight nation, and kingdom will fight kingdom. In place after place there will be hunger, disease, and earthquakes.

8All these are the beginning of sorrows.

8All of this is only the beginning of the pain.

NoteThe KJV says "the beginning of sorrows." The word means birth pains, the first pangs that come before something much bigger.

9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

9Then people will hand you over to be hurt, and some of you will be killed. Every nation will hate you because of my name.

10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

10At that time many people will give up and fall away. They will turn against one another and hate one another.

11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

11Many false prophets will come. They will claim to speak for God, and they will fool many people.

12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

12Wrongdoing will spread everywhere, and the love that most people have will grow cold.

13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

13But whoever keeps going all the way to the end will be saved.

14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

14This good news about God's kingdom will be told all over the world, so every nation hears it. Then the end will come.

15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

15Daniel the prophet wrote about a hateful thing that brings ruin. When you see it standing in the holy place, understand what you are reading.

16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

16When that happens, the people who are in Judaea must run away to the mountains.

17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

17If you are up on your roof, do not go down to get anything out of your house.

18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

18If you are out in the field, do not go back home to get your coat.

19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

19Those days will be terribly hard for women who are pregnant or nursing a baby.

20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

20Pray that you will not have to run away in winter, or on the Sabbath, the day of rest.

21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

21Those will be days of terrible trouble. There has never been trouble like it since the world began, and there never will be again.

22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

22If those days were not cut short, no one at all would survive. But for the sake of God's chosen people, they will be cut short.

23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

23At that time someone may say to you, "Look, the Christ is here!" or "He is over there!" Do not believe it.

24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

24False Christs and false prophets will come. They will do great signs and wonders, enough to fool even God's chosen people, if that were possible.

25Behold, I have told you before.

25Listen. I have told you all this ahead of time.

26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

26So if they say, "He is out in the desert," do not go out there. If they say, "He is hidden in an inside room," do not believe it.

27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

27Lightning flashes in the east and shines all the way to the west. The coming of the Son of Man will be like that.

28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

28Wherever a dead body lies, that is where the vultures gather.

NoteIn 1611 English "eagles" covered the large birds that feed on dead animals. Here it means vultures.

29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

29Right after that time of trouble, the sun will go dark and the moon will give no light. The stars will fall, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the peoples of the earth will mourn. They will see him coming on the clouds with power and great glory.

31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

31He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call. They will gather his chosen people from every direction, from one end of the sky to the other.

32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

32Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches turn soft and the leaves come out, you know summer is near.

33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

33In the same way, when you see all these things, you will know that it is near, right at the door.

34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

34I tell you the truth: the people alive now will not all pass away before these things happen.

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

35The sky and the earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

36No one knows the day or the hour when this will happen. The angels in heaven do not know. Only my Father knows.

37But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

37When the Son of Man comes, it will be just like the days of Noah.

38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

38In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking and getting married. They kept on until the day Noah went into the ark.

39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

39They had no idea what was coming until the flood swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

40Two men will be working out in a field. One will be taken, and the other will be left.

41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41Two women will be grinding grain at a mill. One will be taken, and the other will be left.

42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

42So stay awake and keep watch. You do not know what day your Lord is coming.

43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

43Understand this. If the owner of a house knew when the thief was coming, he would stay awake. He would not let his house be broken into.

Note"Goodman of the house" means the owner of the house. A "watch" was one of the blocks of time the night was divided into. "Suffered" here means allowed.

44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

44So you must be ready too. The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not expecting him.

45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

45Who is a faithful and wise servant? He is the one the master puts in charge of the household, to hand out food at the right time.

Note"Meat" in the KJV means food of any kind, not just the flesh of animals.

46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

46That servant is blessed if his master comes home and finds him doing that job.

47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

47I tell you the truth: the master will put him in charge of everything he owns.

48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

48But suppose that servant is bad and says to himself, "My master is staying away a long time."

49And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

49So he starts beating the other servants and eating and drinking with people who are drunk.

50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

50His master will come back on a day he is not expecting, at an hour he does not know about.

51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51The master will cut him to pieces and put him with the pretenders. There people cry and grind their teeth.