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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 24

1 Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings. 2 And he said to them, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” 3 As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately⁠ and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”⁠ 4 Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.⁠ 7 For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.⁠ And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these things are the beginning of birth pains.⁠ 9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name. 10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another.⁠ 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many,⁠ 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.⁠ 13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation—spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), 16 “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.⁠ 17 The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house, 18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!⁠ 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. 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.⁠ 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 Remember, I have told you ahead of time. 26 So then, if someone says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. 27 For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.⁠ 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.⁠ 29 “Immediately after the suffering 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. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn.⁠ They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.⁠ 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.⁠ 32 “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 36 “But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not⁠ even the angels in heaven—except the Father alone.⁠ 37 For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one left.⁠ 41 There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 “Therefore stay alert because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.⁠ 44 Therefore you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. 47 I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, 50 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, 51 and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1QpHab 7:1 and Matthew 24:36

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · New Testament

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Summary

The Dead Sea Scrolls commentary on Habakkuk, a “pesher” or interpretive commentary, says that secret knowledge of the end of the age was given to the Teacher of Righteousness. In Matthew, Jesus similarly says that secret knowledge is known only to God.

Passages

1QpHab 7:1

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · Commentary on Habakkuk
1 And God told Habakkuk to write down the things that are coming upon 2 the last generation, but the completion of the age he did not make known to him. 3 And as for what it says, “so that the one who reads it may run,” 4 its interpretation concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God made known 5 all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets. “For there is yet a vision 6 for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie.” 7 Its interpretation: that the last age will be prolonged, and it will go beyond all 8 that the prophets have spoken, for the mysteries of God are wondrous. 9 “If it delays, wait for it, for it will surely come and will not 10 be late.” Its interpretation concerns the men of truth, 11 those who observe the Torah, whose hands do not slacken from the service of 12 the truth when the last age is drawn out over them, for
175–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QpHab

Matthew 24:36

New Testament
34 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 36 “But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not even the angels in heaven—except the Father alone. 37 For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... The blindness of those deemed wise is a motif found elsewhere in the Old Testament (compare Isaiah 29:14) and in Qumran (e.g., 1QS 11:6). The word νήπιος, used to refer to “the simple” is found in the LXX of Psalm 18:7; 114:6; 118:30 (compare among “infants” in Wisdom of Solomon 10:21). The contextual evidence supports a positive view of becoming like a child to inherit the kingdom of God (compare 18:1–4 and compare 5:5). It should be noted, moreover, that people have a responsibility and a choice to be infants if they want to receive Jesus’ revelation (verses 20–24; 28). With regard to the content of the revelation that is disclosed to the little ones, it might include the eschatological knowledge which can be linked to the presence of the Kingdom of God. “Many Jews believed that the great redemption would be heralded by revelations concerning the time of the Messiah’s coming and other secrets ‘hidden since the foundation of the world’” (compare Psalm 78:2; 1QpHab. 7:1–5; 11:1–2). This also forms the underlying strands of the idea in 11:27, but the revelation’s tense is shifted to the present ..."
Juheon Kim, “Christology of Q and Wisdom: The Case Study on the Johannine Thunderbolt Pericope” (diss., Chongshin University, 2015), 44–45.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

  • What does 1QpHab 7 stand for? I gather Q = Qumran, and Hab = Habakkuk.

    Douglas, June 15, 2025

  • Douglas, the p stands for "pesher", indicating that 1QpHab is a kind of commentary on Habakkuk found with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

    Daniel, June 18, 2025

1QpHab 7:1 and Matthew 24:36

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