Matthew 24:22-29

24:22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ¹  or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24:24 For false messiahs ²  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 24:25 Remember, ³  I have told you ahead of time. 24:26 So then, if someone ⁴  says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ ⁵  do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. 24:27 For just like the lightning ⁶  comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 24:28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures ⁷  will gather. ⁸ 

The Arrival of the Son of Man

24:29 “Immediately ⁹  after the suffering ¹⁰  of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. ¹¹ 

¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹ tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹ tn Or “Pay attention!” Grk “Behold.”

¹ tn Grk “they say.” The third person plural is used here as an indefinite and translated “someone” (ExSyn 402).

² tn Or “in the desert.”

¹ sn The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning. No one will need to point it out.

¹ tn The same Greek term can refer to “eagles” or “vultures” (L&N 4.42; BDAG 22 s.v. ἀετός), but in this context it must mean vultures because the gruesome image is one of dead bodies being consumed by scavengers.

² tn Grk “will be gathered.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in English.

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

³ sn An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Joel 2:10. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.