7. You will hear about wars and stories of wars that are coming. But don’t be afraid. These things must happen before the end comes.
8. Nations will fight against other nations. Kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms. There will be times when there is no food for people to eat. And there will be earthquakes in different places. These things are like the first pains when something new is about to be born.
9. “You must be careful. People will arrest you and take you to court. They will beat you in their synagogues. You will be forced to stand before kings and governors, to tell them about me. This will happen to you because you follow me.
10. But before these things happen, the Good News must be told to all people.
11. When you are arrested and judged, don’t worry about what you should say. Say the things God gives you to say at that time. It will not really be you speaking. It will be the Holy Spirit.
12. “Brothers will turn against their own brothers and give them over to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children and give them over to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and cause their parents to be killed.
13. All people will hate you because you follow me. But the person who continues to be strong until the end will be saved.
14. “You will see ‘the horrible thing that destroys.’ You will see this thing standing in the place where it should not be.” (You who read this should understand what it means.) “At that time, the people in Judea should run away to the mountains.
15. If a person is on the roof of his house, he must not go down to take anything out of his house.
16. If a person is in the field, he must not go back to get his coat.
17. At that time, it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have nursing babies.
18. Pray that these things will not happen in winter.
19. This is because those days will be full of trouble. There will be more trouble than there has ever been since the beginning, when God made the world. And nothing as bad will ever happen again.
20. God has decided to make that terrible time short. If that time were not made short, then no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help his special people whom he has chosen.
21. At that time, someone might say to you, ‘Look, there is the Christ!’ Or another person might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them.