“Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house, and let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.”
The necessity of acting with speed in the situation is emphasised by two examples. Those who are on the flat roofs of their houses within the city when they hear the news, are immediately to descend the outside stairs and flee without even taking the time to collect anything from the house, while those who are out in the fields when they hear the news, are not to return home to gather their necessities, not even their cloaks whatever the weather, but are to make for the mountains immediately. Such would be the urgency of the hour. This is not so much intended to be practical advice as to stress the urgency of the situation. When the time came not a moment was to be lost.