The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed,
21nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Or is within you
22Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
23People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.
24For the Son of Man in his day Some manuscripts do not have in his day. will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.
25But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
29But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
31On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.
32Remember Lot’s wife!
33Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.
34I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.
35Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
36Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 24:40.
37“Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
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