³³ Be on guard! Be alert^[a]!^(A) You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴ It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants^(B) in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

³⁵ “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”^(C)

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.

⁴⁰ You also must be ready,^(A) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

⁴¹ Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”

⁴² The Lord^(B) answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³ It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.^(C) He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned^(A) to God from idols^(B) to serve the living and true God,^(C)