Mark 13

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The destruction of the temple foretold

¹ And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what stones and what buildings are here!" ² And Yeshua answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, ⁴ "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to be fulfilled?" ⁵ And Yeshua, answering them, began to say, "Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁶ For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and will deceive many. ⁷ But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of birth pains.

⁹ "But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. ¹¹ But when they lead you away and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand about what you will speak, nor think it over; but whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

The abomination of desolation

¹⁴ "But when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; ¹⁵ let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor go in to take anything out of his house; ¹⁶ and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ And pray that your flight may not be in winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation which Elohim created until now, nor ever shall be. ²⁰ And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days. ²¹ Then if anyone says to you, 'See, here is the Messiah!' or, 'See, there!' do not believe it. ²² For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²³ But you take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.

The coming of the Son of Man

²⁴ "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; ²⁵ the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

²⁸ "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near, at the doors. ³⁰ Amen, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

No one knows the day or the hour

³² "But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. ³⁴ It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. ³⁵ Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming: in the evening, or at midnight, or at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning; ³⁶ lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. ³⁷ And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"

Notes

• 13:3 From the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, the disciples looked down on the temple and its courts, which Herod had rebuilt on a grand scale. The temple was burned and torn down by the Roman army in AD 70, as Josephus, who saw the war, describes (Jewish War, books 6-7). How Yeshua's answer relates to that event and to the end of the age has long been read in different ways; the TRB sets no dates.
• 13:14 "The abomination of desolation" is the Greek for Daniel's "abomination that makes desolate" (Daniel 11:31; 12:11; compare 9:27). Daniel's words had been seen fulfilled when Antiochus IV set up an abomination on Yahweh's altar in 167 BC (1 Maccabees 1:54), yet Yeshua spoke of it as still to come (see the note at Matthew 24:15). Mark writes "standing where it ought not"; the Greek word for "standing" is masculine, though "abomination" is neuter, and many take this as a hint that a person is in view. "Let the reader understand" calls for careful reading of Daniel, not for calculation.
• 13:26 Verses 24-27 gather the words of the prophets. The darkened sun and moon recall Isaiah 13:10, "the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light"; the Son of Man coming in clouds is Daniel 7:13, "with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming"; and the gathering of the elect from the ends of the earth and heaven takes up the promise to scattered Israel: "from there Yahweh your Elohim will gather you" (Deuteronomy 30:4).
• 13:32 Here all manuscripts read "nor the Son" (compare the note at Matthew 24:36). The day is known to the Father alone, and Yeshua's words leave no room for setting dates; every date set for it has failed. Instead He calls all to watch (verses 33-37). "This generation" in verse 30 is read in different ways: as those then living, who saw the temple fall in AD 70; as the generation that sees the final signs; or, since genea can also mean a race or kind of people, as Israel or as the wicked who endure until the end.
• 13:35 Yeshua names the four watches of the night as the Romans counted them, from sunset to sunrise: evening, midnight, cockcrow and morning, each about three hours; the Hebrew Scriptures seem to count three (compare Judges 7:19). The doorkeeper is to stay awake through all of them. "Cockcrow" prepares for the night when Peter denied Him (14:30, 72).

Mark 12 · Mark 14

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