"The virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and they will call Him Immanuel" -- which means "God with us."

Now when Jesus was born at Bethlehem in Judea in the days of King Herod, stargazers came from the East to Jerusalem

Then the saying was fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A sob was heard in Ramah, weeping and great wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they were gone."

and whoever wants to hold first position among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man has come, not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."

Now your house is abandoned by me! For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to Him by themselves, and said, "Tell us when this is to take place, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age." Jesus answered, "Look out that no one misleads you about it,

Jesus answered, "Look out that no one misleads you about it, for many will come bearing the name of the Messiah, and saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many people. read more. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars; take care not to be scared out of your wits. They have to come, but that is not the end yet. For nation will go to war with nation, and kingdom with kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. But all this is but the beginning of the agonies. At that time they will turn you over to torture, and will murder you, and you will be hated by all the heathen, because you bear my name. Then many will fall by the way, and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will appear and mislead many people; and because of the increasing crime wave, most people's love will grow cold. But whoever bears up to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom must be preached all over the inhabited world, for a testimony to all the heathen, and then the end will come. "So when you see the destructive desecration, mentioned by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place" -- let the reader take notice -- "then let those who remain in Judea fly to the hills; let him who is on the roof of his house not come down to get his household goods out; let him who is in the field not turn back to get his coat. Alas for women who are expectant mothers and those who have nursing babies in those days! And pray for your flight not to be in winter or on the Sabbath, for there will be greater misery at that time than ever has been since the world began, or ever will be again. And if those days had not been cut short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of God's chosen people those days will be cut short. "If anyone at that time says to you, 'Here is the Christ!' or 'There He is!' do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will announce themselves, and they will show great signs and wonders to mislead, if possible, God's chosen people. Remember, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, 'Here He is in the desert,' do not go out to see. Or 'Here He is in some secret place,' do not believe it. For just as the lightning starts in the east and flashes clear to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will flock.

So you, too, must continue to be ready, for at an hour you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come. "Who then is the faithful and thoughtful slave, whom his master put in charge of his household, to deal out to the members of it their supplies at the proper time? read more. Blessed is that slave if, when his master comes back, he finds him so doing. I solemnly say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if the slave is bad and says to himself, 'My master is going to be gone a long time,' and begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and keeps on eating and drinking with those who get drunk, the master of that slave will come on the very day he is not expecting him, and will cut him in two, and give him his share with the hypocrites, where they will weep and grind their teeth."

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were thoughtless and five were thoughtful, read more. for the thoughtless ones took their lamps but took no oil with them. But the thoughtful ones not only took their lamps but also extra oil in their oil cans. While the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and dropped off to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Here comes the bridegroom! Go out to meet him!' Then all those bridesmaids awoke and trimmed their lamp-wicks. And the thoughtless ones said to the thoughtful ones, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the thoughtful ones answered, 'No, no, there may not be enough for you and us. Go to the store and buy your own oil.' And while they were going to buy it, the bridegroom came, and the bridesmaids that were ready went in with him to the wedding reception; and the door was closed. At last the rest of the bridesmaids came, and kept begging, 'Master, master, open the door for us!' But he answered, 'I positively say to you, I do not know you.' So you must keep on watching, for you do not know either the day or the hour. "For it is just like a man who was going on a long journey from his homeland, who called to him his slaves and turned his property over to them. He gave one five thousand dollars, another two thousand, another one thousand, to each in accordance with his ability. Then he started on his long journey. The man who had received the five thousand dollars at once went out and invested it, and made five thousand more. In the same way the man who had received the two thousand made two thousand more. But the man who had received the one thousand went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came back and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five thousand dollars came up and brought him five thousand more, saying, 'You turned over to me five thousand dollars; here are five thousand more I made.' His master said to him 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' Then the man who had received the two thousand came up and said, 'Master, you turned over to me two thousand dollars; here are two thousand more I made.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' Then the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, 'Master, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, who gathered where you had not threshed. So I was afraid, and went off and buried your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money.' His master answered him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when I came back I could have collected my principal with interest. So take the thousand dollars away from him and give it to him who has ten thousand. For the man who has will have more given to him, even till it overflows, but from the man who has nothing even what he has will be taken away. And throw the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness on the outside, where he will weep and grind his teeth.' "When the Son of Man comes in His splendor, and all the angels with Him, He will take His seat on His splendid throne, and all the nations will be gathered before him, and He will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats, and He will put the sheep at His right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For when I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was a stranger you welcomed me to your homes, when I needed clothes you put them on me, when I was sick you looked after me, when I was in prison you came to see me.' Then the upright will answer, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and give you something to eat, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you to our homes, or needing clothes, and put them on you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and come to see you?' And the King will answer them, 'I solemnly say to you, every time you did a good deed to one of these most insignificant brothers of mine, you did a good deed to me.' "Then He will say to those at His left, 'Be gone from me, you who are now cursed, to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink, when I was a stranger you did not welcome me to your homes, when I needed clothes you did not put them on me, when I was sick and in prison, you did not look after me.' Then they will answer, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not wait on you?' Then He will answer, 'I solemnly say to you, every time you failed to do a good deed to one of these most insignificant people, you failed to do a good deed to me.' Then these will go away to everlasting punishment, but the upright to everlasting life."

and so in that way all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says: "From Zion the Deliverer will come; He will remove ungodliness from Jacob;