17. Let him who is on the housetop not come down and go into the house to take anything;
18. And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his overcoat.
19. And alas for the women who are pregnant and for those who have nursing 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 tribulation (affliction, distress, and oppression) such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now–no, and never will be [again]. [Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:2.]
22. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would endure and survive, but for the sake of the elect (God's chosen ones) those days will be shortened.