Matthew 21
21
Entry into Jerusalem
1When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task. 2He said to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter, you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, say that their master needs them.” He sent them off right away. 4Now this happened to fulfill what the prophet said, 5Say to Daughter Zion, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the donkey’s offspring.”#21.5 Isa 62:11; Zech 9:9 6The disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them. Then he sat on them.
8Now a large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut palm branches off the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds in front of him and behind him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!#21.9 Ps. 118:26Hosanna in the highest!” 10And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. “Who is this?” they asked. 11The crowds answered, “It’s the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Cleansing the temple
12Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer.#21.13 Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11 But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”
14People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were angry. 16They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself?#21.16 Ps 8:3 LXX” 17Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
Cursing the fig tree
18Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, “You’ll never again bear fruit!” The fig tree dried up at once.
20When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so fast?” they asked.
21Jesus responded, “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen. 22If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for.”
Jesus’ authority questioned
23When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. 25Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?”
They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” 27Then they replied, “We don’t know.”
Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
Parable of two sons
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
29 “‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.
30 “The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go.
31“Which one of these two did his father’s will?”
They said, “The first one.”
Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. 32For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.
Parable of the tenant farmers
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. 34When it was time for harvest, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. 35But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.
36 “Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. They treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and we’ll have his inheritance.’ 39They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40“When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
41They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”
42Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?#21.42 Ps 118:22-23 43Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit. 44Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on.”
45Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them. 46They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.
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Matthew 21: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Matthew 21
21
1And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, Go into the village over against you, and immediately ye will find an ass tied, and a colt with it; loose them and lead them to me. 3And if any one say anything to you, ye shall say, The Lord has need of them, and straightway he will send them. 4But all this came to pass, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, 5Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, and mounted upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 6But the disciples, having gone and done as Jesus had ordered them, 7brought the ass and the colt and put their garments upon them, and he sat on them. 8But a very great crowd strewed their own garments on the way, and others kept cutting down branches from the trees and strewing them on the way. 9And the crowds who went before him and who followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest. 10And as he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11And the crowds said, This is Jesus the prophet who is from Nazareth of Galilee.
12And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those that sold the doves. 13And he says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers. 14And blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which he wrought, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant, 16and said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus says to them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17And leaving them he went forth out of the city to Bethany, and there he passed the night.
18But early in the morning, as he came back into the city, he hungered. 19And seeing one fig-tree in the way, he came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And he says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee for ever. And the fig-tree was immediately dried up. 20And when the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, How immediately is the fig-tree dried up! 21And Jesus answering said to them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and do not doubt, not only shall ye do what is done to the fig-tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea, it shall come to pass. 22And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
23And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, saying, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? 24And Jesus answering said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25The baptism of John, whence was it? of heaven or of men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him? 26but if we should say, Of men, we fear the crowd, for all hold John for a prophet. 27And answering Jesus they said, We do not know. He also said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28But what think ye? A man had two children, and coming to the first he said, Child, go to-day, work in my vineyard. 29And he answering said, I will not; but afterwards repenting himself he went. 30And coming to the second he said likewise; and he answering said, I go, sir, and went not. 31Which of the two did the will of the father? They say to him, The first. Jesus says to them, Verily I say unto you that the tax-gatherers and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots believed him; but ye when ye saw it repented not yourselves afterwards to believe him.
33Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country. 34But when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his bondmen to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. 35And the husbandmen took his bondmen, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other bondmen more than the first, and they did to them in like manner. 37And at last he sent to them his son, saying, They will have respect for my son. 38But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. 39And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what shall he do to those husbandmen? 41They say to him, He will miserably destroy those evil men, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42Jesus says to them, Have ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which they that builded rejected, this has become the corner-stone: this is of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? 43Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. 44And he that falls on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. 45And the chief priests and the Pharisees, having heard his parables, knew that he spoke about them. 46And seeking to lay hold of him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they held him for a prophet.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.