Temple’s Destruction Foretold

(Matt. 24:1-3; Mark 13:1-4; Luke 21:5-7)

(Huck 213; Aland 287-288; Crook 324-325)^[1]

וַיֹּאמְרוּ הֲרֵי מַה נָּאוֹת אֲבָנִים אֵלּוּ וַיַּעַן יֵשׁוּעַ וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלּוּ שֶׁאַתֶּם רוֹאִים [הִנֵּה] יָמִים בָּאִים וְלֹא תִשְׁתַּיֵּיר אֶבֶן עַל אֶבֶן שֶׁלֹּא תִנָּתֵץ וַיִּשְׁאָלוּהוּ לֵאמֹר רַבֵּנוּ אֱמוֹר לָנוּ אֵימָתַי יִהְיוּ אֵלּוּ וּמָה הַסִּימָן שֶׁאֵלּוּ עֲתִידִים לְהֵעָשׂוֹת

And they said to him, “Look how beautiful these stones are!”

But Yeshua replied, “These stones you see—Behold! The days are coming when there will not remain a stone upon a stone that will not be torn down.”

So they asked him, “Rabbi, tell us, when will these things be, and what is the sign that these things are going to be done?”^[2]

Reconstruction

To view the reconstructed text of Temple’s Destruction Foretold click on the link below:

Conclusion

Overhearing an innocent expression of appreciation for the beauty of the stones from which the Temple was constructed, Jesus uttered the prediction that the time was shortly to come when not one of those stones would remain in its place. Those who heard Jesus make this shocking prediction asked him when this would take place and what was the sign that it was going to happen. Their question became the starting point of a discourse in which Jesus foretold the destruction and eventual redemption of Jerusalem.

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• ^[1] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
• ^[2] This translation is a dynamic rendition of our reconstruction of the conjectured Hebrew source that stands behind the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels. It is not a translation of the Greek text of a canonical source. ↩