Study Desk

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You close the way for people to enter God's kingdom. You yourselves don't enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter.

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites. You travel across the seas and across different countries to find one person who will follow your ways. When you find that person, you make him worse than you are. And you are so bad that you belong in hell!

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You guide the people, but you are blind. You say, ‘If anyone uses the name of the Temple to make a promise, that means nothing. But anyone who uses the gold that is in the Temple to make a promise must keep that promise.'

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You give God a tenth of the food you get, even your mint, dill, and cumin. But you don't obey the really important teachings of the law—being fair, showing mercy, and being faithful. These are the things you should do. And you should also continue to do those other things.

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You wash clean the outside of your cups and dishes. But inside they are full of what you got by cheating others and pleasing yourselves.

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside they look fine, but inside they are full of dead people's bones and all kinds of filth.

"It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets. And you show honor to the graves of the godly people who were killed.

"So you will be guilty for the death of all the good people who have been killed on earth. You will be guilty for the killing of that godly man Abel. And you will be guilty for the killing of Zechariah son of Berachiah. He was killed between the Temple and the altar. You will be guilty for the killing of all the good people who lived between the time of Abel and the time of Zechariah.

Later, Jesus was sitting at a place on the Mount of Olives. The followers came to be alone with him. They said, "Tell us when these things will happen. And what will happen to prepare us for your coming and the end of time?"

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.

They should run away without wasting time to stop for anything. If they are on the roof of their house, they must not go down to get anything out of the house.

"During that time it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have small babies!

"Someone might tell you, ‘The Messiah is there in the desert!' But don't go into the desert to look for him. Someone else might say, ‘There is the Messiah in that room!' But don't believe it.

It's like looking for a dead body: You will find it where the vultures are gathering above.

When the master comes and finds that servant doing the work he gave him, it will be a day of blessing for that servant.

"At that time God's kingdom will be like ten girls who went to wait for the bridegroom. They took their lamps with them.

The foolish girls took their lamps with them, but they did not take extra oil for the lamps.

"The wise girls answered, ‘No! The oil we have might not be enough for all of us. But go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

"At that time God's kingdom will also be like a man leaving home to travel to another place for a visit. Before he left, he talked with his servants. He told his servants to take care of his things while he was gone.

He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. The man gave one servant five bags of money. He gave another servant two bags. And he gave a third servant one bag. Then he left.