17. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
18. Let him who is in the field not return to take his clothes.
19. Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse in those days!
20. Pray that your escape will not be in the winter or on the Sabbath.
21. For then will be great tribulation, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be.
22. “Unless those days were shortened, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
23. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it.
24. For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
25. Listen, I have told you beforehand.
26. “So, if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert,’ do not go there; or, ‘Look, He is in the private chambers,’ do not believe it.
27. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28. Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
29. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened,the moon will not give its light;the stars will fall from heaven,and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
30. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and 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. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: When its branch becomes tender and grows leaves, you know that summer is near.