Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes — famines in one place, plagues in another — terrors, and great signs blazing from the sky.

But before any of this — they will seize you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, dragging you before kings and governors because of my name. This will turn into your chance to testify. So settle it in your hearts: do not rehearse your defense ahead of time. I myself will give you words and wisdomlinkContextwords and wisdom"I will give you a mouth and wisdom" places Jesus in the role of the divine speech-provider — the tradition of Moses ("I will be with your mouth," Exodus 4:12) and Jeremiah ("I have put my words in your mouth," Jeremiah 1:9). The early church understood this as fulfilled in the eloquence of martyrs before Roman courts: Polycarp, the Scillitan martyrs, Perpetua. that none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

You will be handed over even by your own parents, your brothers, your relatives, your friends. They will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of my name.

And yet — not a hair of your head will be lost.

By your endurance you will win yourselves backtranslateTextwin yourselves backTwo issues: (1) The Greek ψυχάς means "selves/lives" as integrated persons — NOT "souls" in a body-soul dualist sense. The self is what endurance wins back. (2) A significant textual variant exists: κτήσασθε (aorist imperative — "Win yourselves back!") vs. κτήσεσθε (future indicative — "You will win yourselves back"). The first is a command; the second is a promise. Both are textually well attested. Either way, the verb κτάομαι means active acquisition: the self is won through faithfulness, not automatically preserved.."