“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”
King James Version (KJV)
24:5 Many shall come in my name - First, false Christs, next, false prophets, #Mt 24:11|. At length, both together, #Mt 24:24|. And indeed never did so many impostors appear in the world as a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem; undoubtedly because that was the time wherein the Jews in general expected the Messiah.
24:6 Wars - Near: Rumours of wars - At a distance. All these things must come to pass - As a foundation for lasting tranquillity. But the end - Concerning which ye inquire, is not yet - So far from it, that this is but the beginning sorrows.
24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to affliction - As if ye were the cause of all these evils. And ye shall he hated of all nations - Even of those who tolerate all other sects and parties; but in no nation will the children of the devil tolerate the children of God. #Matt 10:17|.
Mt 24:7 Famines. The natural result of civil wars. Tacitus, the Roman historian, says of this period: ``It was full of calamities, horrible with battles, rent with seditions, savage in peace itself.''