Tuesday, August 11

²⁹“Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. ³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³²“Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door. ³⁴I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁶“But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not even the angels in heaven—except the Father alone. ³⁷For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. ³⁸For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. ³⁹And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; one will be taken and one left.

⁴²“Therefore stay alert because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, ⁵⁰then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, ⁵¹and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of the virgins were foolish, and five were wise. ³When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take extra olive oil with them. ⁴But the wise ones took flasks of olive oil with their lamps. ⁵When the bridegroom was delayed a long time, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ ⁹‘No,’ they replied. ‘There won’t be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut. ¹¹Later, the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’ ¹²But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you!’ ¹³Therefore stay alert because you do not know the day or the hour.