Matthew 24: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Jesus leaves the temple and tells his disciples that not one stone of it will be left on another. On the Mount of Olives they ask when this will happen and what will signal his coming and the end of the age. He answers with a long description of deceivers, wars, famines, persecution, false prophets, the abomination of desolation, a time of great suffering, and then the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds to gather his chosen ones. He says no one knows the day or hour except the Father, and closes with pictures drawn from Noah's flood, a householder watching for a thief, and a faithful servant set beside an evil one.

Claim by Claim

1. 24:1
   • Jesus went out from the temple and was going away.
   • His disciples came to him.
   • The disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
2. 24:2
   • Jesus answered his disciples.
   • Jesus asked them whether they saw all these things.
   • Jesus said 'verily I say unto you' to introduce what followed.
   • Jesus said not one stone would be left here upon another.
   • Jesus said every stone would be thrown down.
3. 24:3
   • Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives.
   • The disciples came to him privately.
   • The disciples asked him to tell them when these things would happen.
   • The disciples asked what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age.
4. 24:4
   • Jesus answered them.
   • Jesus told them to take heed that no one deceive them.
5. 24:5
   • Jesus said many would come in his name.
   • Jesus said those many would say 'I am the Christ.'
   • Jesus said they would deceive many.
6. 24:6
   • Jesus said they would hear of wars and rumors of wars.
   • Jesus told them to see that they were not alarmed.
   • Jesus said these things must happen.
   • Jesus said the end is not yet.
7. 24:7
   • Jesus said nation would rise against nation.
   • Jesus said kingdom would rise against kingdom.
   • Jesus said there would be famines.
   • Jesus said there would be pestilences.
   • Jesus said there would be earthquakes in various places.
8. 24:8
   • Jesus said all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9. 24:9
   • Jesus said they would then deliver his hearers up to affliction.
   • Jesus said they would kill them.
   • Jesus said his hearers would be hated by all nations.
   • Jesus said this hatred would be because of his name.
10. 24:10
    • Jesus said many would then be caused to stumble.
    • Jesus said they would betray one another.
    • Jesus said they would hate one another.
11. 24:11
    • Jesus said many false prophets would arise.
    • Jesus said those false prophets would deceive many.
12. 24:12
    • Jesus said lawlessness would be multiplied.
    • Jesus said that because of this the love of many would grow cold.
13. 24:13
    • Jesus said the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14. 24:14
    • Jesus said this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited world.
    • Jesus said it will be preached as a witness to all nations.
    • Jesus said the end will come then.
15. 24:15
    • Jesus spoke of the time when they see the abomination of desolation.
    • Jesus said that abomination was spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
    • Jesus said it stands in the holy place.
    • The reader is told to understand.
16. 24:16
    • Jesus said those in Judea should then flee to the mountains.
17. 24:17
    • Jesus said the one on the housetop should not come down to take anything out of his house.
18. 24:18
    • Jesus said the one in the field should not turn back to take his garment.
19. 24:19
    • Jesus pronounced woe on pregnant women in those days.
    • Jesus pronounced woe on nursing women in those days.
20. 24:20
    • Jesus told them to pray that their flight not happen in winter.
    • Jesus told them to pray that their flight not happen on the sabbath.
21. 24:21
    • Jesus said there would then be great tribulation.
    • Jesus said such tribulation has not happened from the beginning of the world until now.
    • Jesus said such tribulation will never happen again.
22. 24:22
    • Jesus said that if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved.
    • Jesus said those days will be shortened for the sake of the elect.
23. 24:23
    • Jesus said that if anyone then tells them 'Look, here is the Christ,' or 'there he is,' they should not believe it.
24. 24:24
    • Jesus said false Christs would arise.
    • Jesus said false prophets would arise.
    • Jesus said they would show great signs and wonders.
    • Jesus said they would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
25. 24:25
    • Jesus said he had told them beforehand.
26. 24:26
    • Jesus said that if they are told he is in the wilderness, they should not go out.
    • Jesus said that if they are told he is in the inner chambers, they should not believe it.
27. 24:27
    • Jesus said lightning comes out of the east and shines as far as the west.
    • Jesus said the coming of the Son of man will be like that.
28. 24:28
    • Jesus said that wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
29. 24:29
    • Jesus said the sun would be darkened immediately after the tribulation of those days.
    • Jesus said the moon would not give her light.
    • Jesus said the stars would fall from heaven.
    • Jesus said the powers of the heavens would be shaken.
30. 24:30
    • Jesus said the sign of the Son of man would then appear in heaven.
    • Jesus said all the tribes of the earth would then mourn.
    • Jesus said they would see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.
    • Jesus said he would come with power and great glory.
31. 24:31
    • Jesus said he would send his angels with a great trumpet sound.
    • Jesus said the angels would gather his elect from the four winds.
    • Jesus said they would gather them from one end of heaven to the other.
32. 24:32
    • Jesus told them to learn the parable from the fig tree.
    • Jesus said that when its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know summer is near.
33. 24:33
    • Jesus said that likewise, when they see all these things, they should know that it is near, at the doors.
    • It is left unclear whether what is near is the event or the Son of man himself.
34. 24:34
    • Jesus said 'verily I say unto you' to introduce what followed.
    • Jesus said this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.
35. 24:35
    • Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away.
    • Jesus said his words will not pass away.
36. 24:36
    • Jesus said no one knows that day and hour.
    • Jesus said not even the angels of heaven know it.
    • Jesus said only his Father knows it.
37. 24:37
    • Jesus said the coming of the Son of man will be as the days of Noah were.
38. 24:38
    • Jesus said that in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking.
    • Jesus said they were marrying and giving in marriage.
    • Jesus said this continued until the day Noah entered the ark.
39. 24:39
    • Jesus said they did not know until the flood came.
    • Jesus said the flood took them all away.
    • Jesus said the coming of the Son of man will be like that.
40. 24:40
    • Jesus said two men will then be in the field.
    • Jesus said one of them will be taken.
    • Jesus said the other will be left.
41. 24:41
    • Jesus said two women will be grinding at the mill.
    • Jesus said one of them will be taken.
    • Jesus said the other will be left.
42. 24:42
    • Jesus told them to watch.
    • Jesus said they do not know what hour their Lord comes.
43. 24:43
    • Jesus told them to know this.
    • Jesus said that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched.
    • Jesus said he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44. 24:44
    • Jesus told them to be ready for that reason.
    • Jesus said the Son of man comes at an hour they do not expect.
45. 24:45
    • Jesus asked who is the faithful and wise servant.
    • Jesus described that servant as one his lord set over his household.
    • Jesus said the servant was set there to give them their food at the proper time.
46. 24:46
    • Jesus said that servant is blessed whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47. 24:47
    • Jesus said 'verily I say unto you' to introduce what followed.
    • Jesus said the lord will set that servant over all his goods.
48. 24:48
    • Jesus spoke of an evil servant who says in his heart that his lord delays his coming.
49. 24:49
    • Jesus said that servant begins to beat his fellow servants.
    • Jesus said that servant eats and drinks with the drunken.
50. 24:50
    • Jesus said the lord of that servant will come on a day the servant does not expect him.
    • Jesus said he will come at an hour the servant is not aware of.
51. 24:51
    • Jesus said the lord will cut that servant asunder.
    • Jesus said the lord will appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.
    • Jesus said there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

24:1

The temple was the one in Jerusalem, rebuilt on a vast scale by Herod the Great starting around 20 BC and still unfinished in Jesus' lifetime. Its platform and retaining walls were built of dressed limestone blocks, some weighing many tons, and visitors routinely stopped to admire the masonry. "Shew" is simply the older spelling of show, and "for to shew him" means in order to show him.

24:2

"Verily" translates the Hebrew word amen, meaning firm or certain. Placed at the front of a sentence, as Jesus does here, it vouches for what is about to be said rather than confirming what was just said.

24:3

The Mount of Olives is the ridge just east of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley, with a direct view down onto the temple platform. The word behind "thy coming" is parousia, which meant arrival or presence, and was the standard term for the state visit of a king or emperor to a city. Where the King James says "the end of the world", the Greek word is aion, meaning age or era, so the question is about the end of the present age rather than the destruction of the planet.

24:4

"Take heed" is an old way of saying "be careful."

24:5

"Christ" is not a name but the Greek word christos, meaning anointed, the translation of the Hebrew title messiah. To say "I am Christ" is to claim to be the anointed king Israel was waiting for. To come "in my name" means to come claiming Jesus' authority or using his title.

24:6

"Rumours of wars" means stories about fighting far away. You hear about it but you do not see it.

24:7

In 1611 "divers" meant various or several and has nothing to do with diving. "Pestilences" are deadly epidemics.

24:8

"Sorrows" translates a Greek word for the contractions of childbirth. The image is not of grief but of labor pains: the first pangs of a process that has begun and will run its course.

24:9

"Afflicted" here means persecuted or put under pressure, not merely upset. "For my name's sake" means because you carry my name, that is, because you are identified with me.

24:10

"Offended" has shifted meaning since 1611. The Greek verb means to be tripped up or made to stumble, and here it describes people abandoning their allegiance under pressure, not people taking insult. "Betray one another" means handing each other over to the authorities.

24:11

A prophet was someone who claimed to deliver messages from God. In a crisis, anyone claiming that authority could gather a following very fast, which is why a false one counted as dangerous rather than merely mistaken.

24:12

"Wax" is the old verb meaning to grow or become, as in a waxing moon. "Iniquity shall abound" means lawlessness will become widespread.

24:14

"Gospel" translates euangelion, good news, the word used for the public announcement of a victory or the accession of a ruler. "For a witness" means as formal testimony, the kind of evidence given in a legal hearing.

24:15

"The abomination of desolation" is a phrase lifted from the book of Daniel, where it describes something detestable set up in the temple that makes the sanctuary unfit for worship and empties it. Readers in the first century would have associated it with the pagan altar that the Syrian king Antiochus IV erected on the temple altar in 167 BC. "The holy place" is the temple sanctuary itself. "Whoso readeth, let him understand" is an aside from the writer to whoever reads the passage aloud or hears it, flagging that the phrase is coded and needs decoding.

24:16

Judaea is the southern district around Jerusalem, distinct from Galilee in the north and Samaria between them. The hill country to the east and south offered caves and rough terrain where people had traditionally hidden from armies.

24:17

Houses had flat roofs reached by an outside stair, used for sleeping, drying produce and storage. Someone on the roof could go straight down and away without entering the house at all, which is the point: do not go back inside for possessions.

24:18

The word is the outer cloak, the heavy garment a man laid aside while working in the heat. It doubled as a blanket at night, so leaving it behind was a real loss, which is what makes the instruction urgent.

24:19

"Them that give suck" is the older English for women who are breastfeeding. Both groups named are people who cannot move quickly.

24:20

Winter in Judaea is the rainy season, when dry stream beds fill and become impassable and roads turn to mud. On the sabbath, travel was restricted by custom and law to a short distance, gates might be shut, and supplies could not be bought, so a sabbath flight would be doubly hampered.

24:21

"Tribulation" translates thlipsis, literally pressure or being crushed. The phrasing "such as was not since the beginning of the world... nor ever shall be" is a stock Hebrew way of saying unparalleled, found in Daniel and elsewhere.

24:22

"No flesh" is a Hebrew way of saying no human being, or no living creature. "Saved" here carries its plain sense of survive or come through alive. "The elect" means those chosen, a standard term for the people God has selected.

24:23

"Lo" is an old word that just means "Look!"

24:24

"Signs and wonders" is a fixed pair of words used throughout the Hebrew scriptures for striking displays of power. The phrase itself says nothing about who is behind them, which is why false prophets can produce them.

24:26

"The desert" is open uninhabited country, the wilderness, where renewal movements and would be deliverers had gathered followers before. "The secret chambers" are the inner rooms of a house, the windowless storerooms at the back, so the two rumors are opposites: far outside, or hidden deep inside.

24:27

"The Son of man" renders an Aramaic phrase that in ordinary speech simply means a human being, but in Daniel chapter 7 it names a figure who comes with the clouds and receives authority over all peoples. It is the expression Jesus uses of himself throughout this Gospel, and it carries both senses at once.

24:28

The Greek word can mean either eagle or vulture, and vultures are what actually circle over carrion. The line is a proverb: the gathering of the birds makes the location obvious to everyone, so no one will need to be told where to look.

24:29

The wording here is assembled from the prophets, particularly Isaiah's oracles about the fall of Babylon and Edom, where darkened sun and falling stars are the standard poetic vocabulary for the collapse of a ruling power. "The powers of the heavens" can mean the heavenly bodies themselves or the spiritual authorities associated with them; the Greek allows both.

24:30

"All the tribes of the earth" means all the families or peoples of the earth, not the tribes of Israel specifically. "Coming in the clouds of heaven" is drawn word for word from Daniel chapter 7.

24:31

The trumpet is the shofar, a ram's horn, blown to summon Israel to assemble, to sound an alarm, or to mark a sacred day. "The four winds" means the four directions of the compass, a common way of saying from everywhere.

24:32

The fig tree drops its leaves in winter and buds late, so in a landscape of evergreens it is the tree that visibly announces the turn of the season. Its soft new shoots were a reliable local signal that summer had nearly arrived.

24:33

The Greek verb here has no stated subject, so the sentence can be read either as "it is near" or as "he is near", meaning either the event or the one who comes. Both readings are grammatically possible and translators are divided. "Even at the doors" means right at the doorway, about to enter.

24:34

The word rendered "generation" is genea, which normally means the people alive at one time, roughly forty years' worth. It can also carry the sense of a kind or breed of people, as in "a faithless generation". Which sense is meant here has been argued over since antiquity, and the Greek does not settle it.

24:36

Many of the oldest Greek manuscripts read "neither the Son" after "the angels of heaven", and most modern translations include it. The manuscripts behind the King James version lack the phrase, which is why it does not appear here.

24:37

"Noe" is the King James spelling, taken from the Greek form of the name; the Hebrew form is Noah.

24:38

"Giving in marriage" refers to the father's role of handing a daughter over to a husband, the other half of "marrying". The point of the list is that all four activities are utterly ordinary: life going on as normal.

24:41

Grinding was daily household work done with a hand mill, two stacked circular stones turned by a handle, heavy enough that two women commonly worked it together, sitting opposite each other. Grain had to be ground fresh each day for that day's bread.

24:42

"Watch" is literally stay awake, the word used for a sentry on night duty, and it sets up the picture of the householder in the next verse.

24:43

"The goodman of the house" is simply the master of the house, the householder. A "watch" is one of the shifts into which the night was divided, four shifts of roughly three hours each by Roman reckoning. "Broken up" means broken into, and the Greek verb is literally dug through: house walls were often mud brick, and a thief cut a hole in the wall rather than forcing a door.

24:45

"Meat" in 1611 English meant food of any kind, not flesh specifically. "In due season" means at the proper time, the fixed times when rations were handed out. The servant described is a household slave promoted to steward, put in charge of the other slaves and of distributing their food while the owner is away, a common arrangement in large estates.

24:47

"Goods" means property or possessions of every kind, not merchandise. Making a trusted slave steward over an entire estate was a real and substantial promotion.

24:48

"Say in his heart" is a Hebrew way of saying "think to himself." The reasoning is private; he never says it out loud.

24:49

"Smite" means to strike or beat. "The drunken" means drunkards. The abuse described is a steward using his delegated authority on the people he was meant to feed.

24:51

"Cut him asunder" translates a verb meaning to cut in two. Cutting a condemned person in half is attested as a real punishment in the ancient world, though many take the phrase here as a violent idiom for cutting someone off, that is, severing them from the household. "Hypocrites" translates the Greek word for a stage actor, someone speaking lines from behind a mask. "Gnashing of teeth" means grinding the teeth together, an expression of rage or of anguish.