1 As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look at these massive stones and magnificent buildings!” 2 “You see all these great buildings?” Jesus replied. “Not one stone will be left on top of another. Everything will be torn down.” 3 As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him in private, 4 “Tell us: When this will happen? What's the sign that all this is about to be fulfilled?” 5 Jesus began telling them, “Make sure no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name claiming, ‘I am the Christ.’ They will deceive many people. 7 Don't be troubled when you hear of wars nearby and wars far away. These things must happen but this is not the end. 8 Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines too. These are the beginnings of the world's birth pains. 9 Watch out for yourselves! They will hand you over to the courts to be tried. You will be beaten in synagogues. Because of me you will have to stand before governors and kings, and you will be witnesses to them. 10 The good news must first be announced in every nation. 11 When they come to arrest you and put you on trial, don't worry about what to say. Just say what you're told at that time, because it's not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father will betray his child. Children will turn against their parents and have them condemned to death. 13 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but whoever endures until the end will be saved. 14 But when you see the ‘idolatry that causes devastation’ standing where it shouldn't be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea should run to the mountains. 15 Those who are on the roof—don't go back inside the house to get anything. 16 Those who are out in the fields—don't go home to get a coat. 17 How hard it will be for those who are pregnant or nursing at that time! 18 Pray that this won't happen during the winter. 19 For these will be days of trouble like never before since the beginning of God's creation until now, and they won't ever come again. 20 If God doesn't cut short these days, no one will survive. However, for the sake of those God has chosen, he has cut them short. 21 So if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘Look, there he is,’ don't believe it. 22 For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear, and they will perform miraculous signs and wonders to deceive the chosen of God, if that were possible. 23 Watch out! I've told you everything before it happens. 24 This is what will happen after those troubles: ‘The sun will become dark, the moon won't shine, 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.’ 26 Then they will see the Son of man as he comes on the clouds, possessing great power and glory. 27 He will send out the angels, and gather together all his chosen ones from wherever they are, from the most distant part of the earth to the farthest point of heaven. 28 Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches grow soft and send out leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that it's near—right outside the door! 30 I tell you the truth, this generation won't come to an end until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will come to an end, but my teachings will not. 32 No one knows the day or hour when this will happen—not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son; only the Father knows. 33 Keep watch! Stay awake! For you don't know when this will happen. 34 It's like a man who went away on a journey. He left his house, and gave each of his servants the authority to do what he told them. He told the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 So keep watch, because you don't know when the owner of the house is coming back. It may be in the evening, in the middle of the night, before dawn, or in the morning. 36 You don't want to be caught sleeping if he returns unexpectedly. 37 What I'm telling you, I'm telling everyone: Watch!”
Mark 13 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (35)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Matthew 24:1–51; Ezekiel 11:22–23; Malachi 3:1–2; Ezekiel 8:6; Ezekiel 10:19
- 2 Luke 21:6; Matthew 24:2; Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18; 1 Kings 9:7–8
- 3 Matthew 21:1; Mark 4:34; Mark 9:2; Mark 10:35; Mark 1:16–19
- 4 Acts 1:6–7; Matthew 24:3; John 21:21–22; Daniel 12:6; Daniel 12:8
- 5 Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:8; Jeremiah 29:8; 1 John 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:3
- 6 Mark 13:22; 1 John 4:1; John 5:43; Acts 5:36–39; Jeremiah 14:14
- 7 Luke 21:9–11; John 14:27; Matthew 24:6–7; Psalm 112:7; Psalm 27:3
- 8 Psalm 48:6; Matthew 24:8; Isaiah 37:3; Haggai 2:22; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
- 9 Matthew 10:17–18; John 16:2; 1 Corinthians 4:9–13; Mark 13:5; Philippians 1:29
- 10 Matthew 24:14; Colossians 1:23; Romans 10:18; Revelation 14:6; Colossians 1:6
- 11 Luke 21:14–15; Luke 12:11–12; Matthew 10:19–21; Acts 6:10; 1 Corinthians 2:13
- 12 Matthew 10:21; Luke 12:52–53; Luke 21:16; Micah 7:4–6; Matthew 24:10
- 13 John 15:18–19; Matthew 10:22; Luke 6:22; Matthew 24:13; Galatians 6:9
- 14 Daniel 9:27; Daniel 12:11; Daniel 11:31; Matthew 24:15–28; Luke 21:20–24
- 15 Hebrews 11:7; Luke 17:31–33; Philippians 3:7–8; Matthew 24:16–18; Proverbs 6:4–5
- 17 Luke 23:29; Lamentations 4:10; Hosea 13:16; Luke 21:23; Matthew 24:19–21
- 19 Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:2; Matthew 24:21; Daniel 9:26; Daniel 9:12
- 20 Matthew 24:22; Isaiah 65:8–9; Zechariah 13:8–9; Romans 11:28–32; Isaiah 1:9
- 21 Luke 21:8; Matthew 24:23–25; Matthew 24:5; Deuteronomy 13:1–3; Luke 17:23–24
- 22 Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:8–14; Mark 13:6; 1 John 2:26; Matthew 7:15
- 23 2 Peter 3:17; John 14:29; Luke 21:8; Isaiah 44:7–8; Mark 13:5
- 24 Isaiah 13:10; Acts 2:19–20; Revelation 6:12–14; Matthew 24:29–31; 2 Peter 3:10
- 25 Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:13
- 26 Revelation 1:7; Mark 14:62; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31
- 27 Zechariah 2:6; Matthew 24:31; Deuteronomy 30:4; Revelation 7:1–3; 2 Thessalonians 2:1
- 28 Luke 21:29–31; Matthew 24:32–33
- 29 James 5:9; 1 Peter 4:17–18; Hebrews 10:25–37; Ezekiel 12:25–28; Ezekiel 7:10–12
- 30 Matthew 24:34; Luke 21:32; Mark 9:1; Matthew 23:36; Matthew 16:28
- 31 Isaiah 40:8; Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35; Luke 21:33; Matthew 5:18
- 32 Matthew 24:36–42; Acts 1:7; Matthew 25:13; Revelation 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–2
- 33 Romans 13:11–12; Luke 12:40; Ephesians 6:18; Revelation 16:15; Matthew 25:13
- 34 John 10:3; Matthew 25:14–30; Luke 12:36–40; Matthew 24:45–47; 1 Corinthians 15:58
- 35 Matthew 24:42; Mark 13:33; Matthew 24:44; Mark 14:30; Mark 6:48
- 36 1 Thessalonians 5:6–7; Matthew 24:48–51; Luke 21:34; Romans 13:11–14; Mark 14:40
- 37 Luke 12:41–46; Mark 13:33; Mark 13:35
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The advice, Brethren, which ye have just heard Scripture give, when it tells us to watch for the last day, every one should think of as concerning his own last day; lest haply when ye judge or think the last day of the world to be far distant, ye slumber with respect to your own last day.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
… of God; while even the Lord, the very Son of God, allowed that the Father alone knows the very day and hour of judgment, when He plainly declares, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, neither the Son, but the Father only." If, then, the Son was not ashamed to ascribe the knowledge of that day to …
Ye have heard what Jesus said concerning the last day of this world, "That neither the Angels of heaven, nor the Son knew it, but the Father." Where indeed there is a great difficulty, lest understanding this in a carnal way, we think that the Father knoweth anything which the Son knoweth not.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." By saying, not the angels, He stopped their mouths, that they should not seek to learn what these angels know not; and by saying, "neither the Son," forbids them not only to learn, but even to inquire.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Their tenth objection is the ignorance, and the statement that Of the last day and hour knoweth no man, not even the Son Himself, but the Father. And yet how can Wisdom be ignorant of anything--that is, Wisdom Who made the worlds, Who perfects them, Who remodels them, Who is the Limit of all things that were made, Who knoweth …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)