And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:  neither shall they say, ‘Lo, here!’ or, ‘There!’ for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.”

And he said unto the disciples, “The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.  And they shall say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ ‘Lo, here!’ go not away, nor follow after them; for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day.  But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.

“And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.  Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all:  after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.  In that day, he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and let him that is in the field likewise not return back.  Remember Lot’s wife.  Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

THE UNJUST JUDGE.

And he spake a parable unto them to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, “There was in a city a judge, who feared not God, and regarded not man:  and there was a widow in that city:  and she came oft unto him, saying, ’Avenge me of mine adversary.’  And he would not for a while:  but afterward he said within himself, ’Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge saith.  And shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and yet he is longsuffering over them?  I say unto you, that he will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought:  “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ’God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, ‘God, be thou merciful to me a sinner.’  I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other:  for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”