Matthew 24:2

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple

1 Then ^aJesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, ^anot one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, ^athe disciples came to Him privately, saying, ^b“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: ^a“Take heed that no one deceives you.

5 For ^amany will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ ^band will deceive many.

6 And you will hear of ^awars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for¹ all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For ^anation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be ^bfamines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 ^a“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

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

11 Then ^amany false prophets will rise up and ^bdeceive many.

12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow ^acold.

13 ^aBut he who endures to the end shall be saved.

14 And this ^agospel of the kingdom ^bwill be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

The Great Tribulation

15 ^a“Therefore when you see the ^b‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” ^c(whoever reads, let him understand),

16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.

18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

19 But ^awoe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

21 For ^athen there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; ^abut for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

23 ^a“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.

24 For ^afalse christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, ^bif possible, even the elect.

25 See, I have told you beforehand.

26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.

27 ^aFor as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

28 ^aFor wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Coming of the Son of Man

29 ^a“Immediately after the tribulation of those days ^bthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30 ^aThen the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, ^band then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 ^aAnd He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His¹ elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

32 “Now learn ^athis parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

33 So you also, when you see all these things, know ^athat it is near—at the doors!

34 Assuredly, I say to you, ^athis generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

35 ^aHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

No One Knows the Day or Hour

36 ^a“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of¹ heaven, ^bbut My Father only.

37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

38 ^aFor as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

40 ^aThen two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.

41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.

42 ^aWatch therefore, for you do not know what¹ hour your Lord is coming.

43 ^aBut know this, that if the master of the house had known what¹ hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

44 ^aTherefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant

45 ^a“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food¹ in due season?

46 ^aBlessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

47 Assuredly, I say to you that ^ahe will make him ruler over all his goods.

48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master ^ais delaying his coming,’

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

<< Matthew 24:1

Matthew 24:3 >>

Matthew 24:2

See ye not all these things? - The common text, and many manuscripts, have , Do ye not see, or consider? But the negative particle is omitted by several excellent manuscripts, by the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala versions, and by some of the primitive fathers, who all read it thus, see, or consider all these things.

There shall not be left here one stone - These seem to have been the last words he spoke as he left the temple, into which he never afterwards entered; and, when he got to the mount of Olives, he renewed the discourse. From this mount, on which our Lord and his disciples now sat, the whole of the city, and particularly the temple, were clearly seen. This part of our Lord' s prediction was fulfilled in the most literal manner. Josephus says, War, book vii. c. 1: "Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, , except the three towers, Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited." Maimonides, a Jewish rabbin, in Tract. Taanith, c. 4, says, "That the very foundations of the temple were digged up, according to the Roman custom." His words are these: "On that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field." This Turnus, or rather Terentius Rufus, was left general of the army by Titus, with commission, as the Jews suppose, to destroy the city and the temple, as Josephus observes.

The temple was destroyed,

1st. Justly; because of the sins of the Jews.

2dly. Mercifully; to take away from them the occasion of continuing in Judaism: and

3dly. Mysteriously; to show that the ancient sacrifices were abolished, and that the whole Jewish economy was brought to an end, and the Christian dispensation introduced.

Other Adam Clarke entries containing Matthew 24:2:

Micah 3:12
Luke 21:6
Luke 21:8
Luke 23:31

<< Matthew 24:1

Matthew 24:3 >>

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