Section 13:24–27

Jesus told his disciples about his return to earth

In the preceding section Jesus told about some terrible events that would happen. In 13:24–27 he told about other future events which would be even more terrible. Then he said that the Son of Man would come “in clouds with great power and glory.” This phrase is also found in Daniel 7:13, a passage that speaks of the Son of Man coming in glory. Jesus used the title “the Son of Man” here to refer to himself.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The coming of the Son of Man
-or-
The Son of Man will receive great glory

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 24:29–31 and Luke 21:25–28.

Paragraph 13:24–25

13:24a

But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But indicates a contrast. It is not clear exactly what the contrast is. Here are two possibilities:

(a) The contrast is between the distress of the people in Judea (in 13:19–22) and the powerful coming of the Son of man (in 13:24–26).

(b) The contrast is between the false Christs (13:22) and the coming of the true Christ. (13:26)

It is good not to make the contrast too explicit in your translation.

in those days, after that tribulation: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in those days, after that tribulation refers back to the events that Jesus described in 13:14–22. This was the time when the abomination of desolation would appear and when the people of Judea would have to flee.

after that tribulation:

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

after that time of trouble (Good News Bible)
-or-
after that time of suffering (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
after the people have suffered

13:24b–25b

Some scholars think that 13:24b–25b refers to future events that will happen before Christ returns. Other scholars think these verses use figurative language to describe the terrible events that happened during the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem around A.D. 70.

In 13:24b–25b Jesus used words from several Old Testament verses, but he did not quote any of these verses exactly. There are different ways to indicate this in your translation:

• Indent these words and use poetry format for them. For example, the New Revised Standard Version has:

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

25and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

• Use a different font. For example, the NET Bible uses italics and the New American Standard Bible uses bold type.

• Use either single quotation marks (New Century Version) or double quotation marks (Contemporary English Version).

Some English versions use a combination of these options. For example, the Berean Standard Bible uses quotation marks and also indents the words. Some versions do not use any of these options, but have a footnote to tell the verses that Jesus quoted from. The words in 13:25b are not found in any particular Old Testament passage. Therefore, the footnote should be placed at the end of the words in 13:25a.

Here is an example footnote:

See Isaiah 13:10 and 34:4, Joel 2:10, and Amos 8:9.

The sun will be darkened: The phrase will be darkened is a passive phrase. However, it does not necessarily imply a subject.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

The sun will become dark
-or-
The sun will no longer shine
-or-
The sun will stop shining

and the moon will not give its light: The phrase will not give its light has the same meaning as the phrase will be darkened. In some languages it may be more natural to combine the phrases about the sun and the moon. For example:

the sun and the moon will both stop shining
-or-
the sun will stop shining in the day; the moon will stop shining at night

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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