17. “During that time it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have small babies.
18. Pray that these things will not happen in winter,
19. because those days will be full of trouble. There will be more trouble than has ever happened since the beginning, when God made the world. And nothing that bad will ever happen again.
20. But the Lord has decided to make that terrible time short. If it were not made short, no one could survive. But the Lord will make that time short to help the special people he has chosen.
21. “Someone might say to you at that time, ‘Look, there is the Messiah!’ Or another person might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them.
22. False messiahs and false prophets will come and do miracles and wonders, trying to fool the people God has chosen, if that is possible.
23. So be careful. Now I have warned you about all this before it happens.