Ready for the Master’s Return

35 “Be ready for service[a] and have your lamps lit.(A) 36 You are to be like people waiting for their master(B) to return from the wedding banquet(C) so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.(D) 37 Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert(E) when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready,[b] have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.(F) 38 If he comes in the middle of the night, or even near dawn,[c] and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming,(G) he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also be ready,(H) because the Son of Man(I) is coming at an hour you do not expect.”(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 12:35 Lit “Let your loins be girded; an idiom for tying up loose outer clothing in preparation for action; Ex 12:11
  2. 12:37 Lit will gird himself
  3. 12:38 Lit even in the second or third watch

Watchfulness(A)(B)

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.(C) Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.(D) 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief(E) was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready,(F) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

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For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord(A) will come just like a thief(B) in the night.

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for you know very well that the day of the Lord(A) will come like a thief in the night.(B)

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So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled(A) and put on the armor(B) of faith and love, and a helmet(C) of the hope of salvation.

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So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep,(A) but let us be awake(B) and sober.(C) For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.(D) But since we belong to the day,(E) let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate,(F) and the hope of salvation(G) as a helmet.(H)

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