468 Gustavo Martin shmei'on, the final road sign indicating that “all these things” are to be fulfilled. Thus the first o{tan clause makes reference to “wars and rumors of wars,” which will be heard by the disciples. In reaction to these, they should not be alarmed, for though these things “must happen,” the end is not yet (ou[pw to; tevlo"). The second sub-section increases the immediacy and the urgency by means of the explicit subject plus reflexive pronoun in blepete de; uJmei'" eJautouv". The second v o{tan clause makes clear that the disciples themselves will become victims in the dreadful times ahead: When they bring you handing you over… don’t worry about what you will say. Finally, in v. 14 the o{tan clause becomes fully specific and detailed: When you see the desolating sacrilege…then, let those in Judea flee to the mountains, etc. The following verses describe the tribulation that will befall the disciples in the near future, with specific instructions to flee and save their lives. The tribulation notwithstanding, God has shortened those days on behalf of His elect. In the second member of an inclusio, the Markan Jesus refers again to the deceivers, false prophets and false christs who will rise in order to deceive, if possible, even God’s elect. The final clause of this sub-section delivers a clear sense of finality and completeness, and refers anaphorically to the question of v. 4: uJmei'" de; blevpete proei;rhka uJmi'n pavnta. The language of this section is a rare mix of procedural and paraenetic registers, which associates behavior with specific time frames by means of “when X do Y” patterns, and has the highest concentration of o{tan clauses in the entire gospel. In Mark, o{tan clauses can carry a gnomic sense, as in the parables in chapter 4, which contain the second highest concentration of o{tan clauses in all of Mark, and refer to situations or processes that are assumed to be always or generally occurring. As Pesch points out, another set of o{tan clauses seems to have an eschatological sense (8,38; 9,9; 12,23 etc) (42), as they refer to the time of Jesus’ coming, resurrection, or the resurrection of the dead. In chapter 13, however, the usage is clearly different, as here the “when” clauses are an integral part of a speech about future events, of which its main section, 5b-23, is a set of instructions associated to time frames progressing towards a climax. The closest examples of this usage of o{tan in conjunction with imperatives is found in some of Paul’s letters, as he delivers final and highly practical instructions to be carried out when he next visits churches, when his letter is read, when (42) PESCH, Naherwartungen, 119.