St Matthew 21
21
1AND when they drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto mount Olivet, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2Saying to them: Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them and bring them to me.
3And if any man shall say anything to you, say ye, that the Lord hath need of them: and forthwith he will let them go.
4Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
5Tell ye the daughter of Sion: Behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke.
6And the disciples going, did as Jesus commanded them.
7And they brought the ass and the colt, and laid their garments upon them, and made him sit thereon.
8And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way: and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way:
9And the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying: Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
10And when he was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is this?
11And the people said: This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee.
12And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves:
13And he saith to them: It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
14And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple; and he healed them.
15And the chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying: Hosanna to the son of David; were moved with indignation.
16And said to him: Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus said to them: Yea, have you never read: Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
17And leaving them, he went out of the city into Bethania, and remained there.
18And in the morning, returning into the city, he was hungry.
19And seeing a certain fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he saith to it: May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away.
20And the disciples seeing it wondered, saying: How is it presently withered away?
21And Jesus answering, said to them: Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done.
22And in all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
23And when he was come into the temple, there came to him, as he was teaching, the chief priests and ancients of the people, saying: By what authority dost thou these things? and who hath given thee this authority?
24Jesus answering, said to them: I also will ask you one word, which if you shall tell me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
25The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or from men? But they thought within themselves, saying:
26If we shall say, from heaven, he will say to us: Why then did you not believe him? But if we shall say, from men, we are afraid of the multitude: for all held John as a prophet.
27And answering Jesus, they said: We know not. He also said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
29And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went.
30And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not.
31Which of the two did the father's will? They say to him: The first. Jesus saith to them: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you.
32For John came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him. But the publicans and the harlots believed him: but you, seeing it, did not even afterwards repent, that you might believe him.
33Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country.
34And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof.
35And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner.
37And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son.
38But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir: come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.
39And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?
41They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season.
42Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; 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 yielding the fruits thereof.
44And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.
45And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them.
46And seeking to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes: because they held him as a prophet.
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St Matthew 21: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Matthew 21
21
Jesus' last week: his trial and death
Jesus enters Jerusalem
(Mark 11.1-11; Luke 19.28-38; John 12.12-19)
1When Jesus and his disciples came near Jerusalem, he went to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and sent two of them on ahead. 2He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will at once find a donkey and her colt. Untie the two donkeys and bring them to me. 3If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, ‘The Lord#21.3 The Lord: Or “the master of the donkeys”. needs them.’ Straight away he will let you have the donkeys.”
4So God's promise came true, just as the prophet had said,
5“Announce to the people#Zec 9.9.
of Jerusalem:
‘Your king is coming to you!
He is humble
and rides on a donkey.
He comes on the colt
of a donkey.’ ”
6The disciples left and did what Jesus had told them to do. 7They brought the donkey and its colt and laid some clothes on their backs. Then Jesus got on.
8Many people spread clothes in the road, while others put down branches#21.8 spread clothes…put down branches: This was one-way that the Jewish people welcomed a famous person. which they had cut from trees. 9Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others followed behind. They were all shouting,#Ps 118.25,26.
“Hooray#21.9 Hooray: This translates a word that can mean “please save us”. But it is most often used as a shout of praise to God. for the Son of David!#21.9 Son of David: See the note at 9.27.
God bless the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hooray for God
in heaven above!”
10When Jesus came to Jerusalem, everyone in the city was excited and asked, “Who can this be?”
11The crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus in the temple
(Mark 11.15-19; Luke 19.45-48; John 2.13-22)
12Jesus went into the temple and chased out everyone who was selling or buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of the ones who were selling doves. 13He told them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be called a place of worship.’ But you have turned it into a place where robbers hide.”#Is 56.7; Jr 7.11.
14Blind and lame people came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. 15But the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were angry when they saw his miracles and heard the children shouting praises to the Son of David.#21.15 Son of David: See the note at 9.27. 16The men said to Jesus, “Don't you hear what those children are saying?”#Ps 8.2 (LXX).
“Yes, I do!” Jesus answered. “Don't you know that the Scriptures say, ‘Children and infants will sing praises’?” 17Then Jesus left the city and went out to the village of Bethany, where he spent the night.
Jesus puts a curse on a fig tree
(Mark 11.12-14,20-24)
18When Jesus got up the next morning, he was hungry. He started out for the city, 19and along the way he saw a fig tree. But when he came to it, he found only leaves and no figs. So he told the tree, “You will never again grow any fruit!” At once the fig tree dried up.
20The disciples were shocked when they saw how quickly the tree had dried up. 21But Jesus said to them, “If you have faith and don't doubt, I promise that you can do what I did to this tree. And you will be able to do even more. You can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will.#Mt 17.20; 1 Co 13.2. 22If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for.”
A question about Jesus' authority
(Mark 11.27-33; Luke 20.1-8)
23Jesus had gone into the temple and was teaching when the chief priests and the leaders of the people came up to him. They asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24Jesus answered, “I have just one question to ask you. If you answer it, I will tell you where I got the right to do these things. 25Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?”
They thought it over and said to each other, “We can't say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn't believe John. 26On the other hand, these people think that John was a prophet, and we are afraid of what they might do to us. That's why we can't say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize.” 27So they told Jesus, “We don't know.”
Jesus said, “Then I won't tell you who gave me the right to do what I do.”
A story about two sons
28Jesus said:
I will tell you a story about a man who had two sons. Then you can tell me what you think. The father went to the elder son and said, “Go and work in the vineyard today!” 29His son told him that he would not do it, but later he changed his mind and went. 30The man then told his younger son to go and work in the vineyard. The boy said he would, but he didn't go. 31Which one of the sons obeyed his father?
“The elder one,” the chief priests and leaders answered.
Then Jesus told them:
You can be sure that tax collectors#21.31 tax collectors: See the note at 5.46. and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you ever will! 32When John the Baptist showed you how to do right, you would not believe him. But these evil people did believe. And even when you saw what they did, you still would not change your minds and believe.#Lk 3.12; 7.29,30.
Tenants of a vineyard
(Mark 12.1-12; Luke 20.9-19)
33Jesus told the chief priests and leaders to listen to this story:#Is 5.1,2.
A land owner once planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it and dug a pit to crush the grapes in. He also built a lookout tower. Then he let his vineyard and left the country.
34When it was harvest time, the owner sent some servants to get his share of the grapes. 35But the tenants grabbed those servants. They beat up one, killed one, and stoned one of them to death. 36He then sent more servants than he did the first time. But the tenants treated them in the same way.
37Finally, the owner sent his own son to the tenants, because he thought they would respect him. 38But when they saw the man's son, they said, “Some day he will own the vineyard. Let's kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves.” 39So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40Jesus asked, “When the owner of that vineyard comes, what do you suppose he will do to those tenants?”
41The chief priests and leaders answered, “He will kill them in some horrible way. Then he will let his vineyard to people who will give him his share of grapes at harvest time.”
42Jesus replied, “Surely you know that the Scriptures say,#Ps 118.22,23.
‘The stone that the builders
tossed aside
is now the most important
stone of all.
This is something
the Lord has done,
and it is amazing to us.’
43I tell you that God's kingdom will be taken from you and given to people who will do what he demands. 44Anyone who stumbles over this stone will be crushed, and anyone it falls on will be smashed to pieces.”#21.44 pieces: Verse 44 is not in some manuscripts.
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew that Jesus was talking about them. 46So they looked for a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid to, because the people thought he was a prophet.
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