Then he said to the crowd also. "When you see a cloud rising in the west you at once say, 'There is going to be a shower,' and it comes to pass.

"Hypocrites! you know how to read the face of the earth and of the sky; but how is it that you do not know how to read the signs of the present time?

These have power to shut heaven so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy; and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

and at dawn you say, 'It will storm today, for the sky is red and lowering.' You know how to discern the look of the sky, but the signs of the times you cannot read.

"And there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars; and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roar of the sea and the billows;

All these things are the beginning of birth-pangs.

And men were scorched with the terrible heat; and they blasphemed the name of the God who had the power over these plagues; yet they repented not, to give him glory.

"and there shall be great earthquakes, and, in many places, famines and pestilences; and there shall be terror and great portents from heaven.

In answer he said: "In the evening you say, 'It will be fine weather, for the sky is red as fire';

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

After this I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds from blowing on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.

Do not believe every spirit, beloved, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets are gone out into the world.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see to it that you are not afraid. Such things must happen, but the end is not yet.

"men lifeless through fear, and foreboding of that which is about to come upon the habitable earth. For the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,

But it was not long before a furious wind, called Euroclydon, rushed down from the island;

Carry out these injunctions because you know the crisis that we are in, that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.

Love never fails; but though there are prophecies, they will fail; though there are tongues, they will cease; though there is knowledge, it will be superseded.

"But pray that your flight may not be in the winter; nor on a Sabbath;

For we must all be made manifest, in our true characters, before the Judgment-seat of Christ; so that each one may receive according to that which he has done in his body, whether good or evil.

in toil and weariness, often in sleepless watching, in hunger and thirst, often without anything to eat; in cold and in nakedness.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.