Matt. 24:22 Except days be shortened ... The persecution by the Jews against the Christians was so sever that unless the Lord steped in to halt it the Christians may be all killed. Cf. 1 Peter 4:17-18. cf Jerome Biblical Commentary The “ salvation,” which no one would attain unless the time of tribulation were shortened, does not mean spiritual salvation but escape from death; unless God mercifully shortened the time (Mt in Jewish style uses the impersonal “ theological” passive instead of the divine name [ GrBib § 236]), no one would have escaped alive from this disaster. The narrative of Josephus does indeed indicate a terrible loss of life in the Palestinian Jewish community. GrBib M. Zerwick, Graecitas biblica (4th ed.; Rome, 1960). Numbers correspond to English tr., Biblical Greek (Rome, 1963) Brown, R. E., Fitzmyer, J. A., & Murphy, R. E. (1968]; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Jerome Biblical commentary (electronic ed.) (Matthew 24:21). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. also