Matthew 21
21
The Triumphal Entry
1When they approached Jerusalem # Mk 11:1-10; Lk 19:28-38; Jn 12:12-19 and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, # Zch 14:4; Mt 24:3; 26:30; Lk 19:29,37; 21:37; Jn 8:1; Ac 1:12 Jesus then sent two disciples, 2telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3If anyone says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.”
4This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
5Tell Daughter Zion,
“Look, your King is coming to you,
gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
even on a colt,
the foal of a beast of burden.” # Is 62:11; Zch 9:9 # Is 62:11; Zch 9:9
6The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting:
Hosanna to the Son of David!
He who comes in the name
of the Lord is the blessed One! # Ps 118:25-26
Hosanna in the highest heaven! # Ps 118:25; Mt 9:27; 23:39; Lk 2:14
10When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this? ” 11And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus # Mk 6:15; Lk 7:16; 13:33; 24:19; Jn 1:21; 4:19; 6:14 from Nazareth in Galilee! ”
Cleansing the Temple Complex
12Jesus went into the temple complex # Other mss add of God # Mk 11:15-18; Lk 19:45-47; Jn 2:14-16 and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves. # Ex 30:13; Lv 1:14; 5:7; 12:8; Dt 14:25 13And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer. # Is 56:7 But you are making it a den of thieves!” # Jr 7:11 # Jr 7:11
Children Praise Jesus
14The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. 15When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, “Hosanna to the Son of David! ” they were indignant 16and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying? ”
“Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read:
You have prepared # Or restored praise # Ps 8:2; Mt 11:25; 12:3,5; 19:4; 22:31
from the mouths of children and nursing infants? ” # Ps 8:2
17Then He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, # Mt 26:6; Mk 11:1; Lk 19:29; 24:50; Jn 11:18 and spent the night there.
The Barren Fig Tree
18Early in the morning, # Mk 11:12-14,20-24 as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. 19Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again! ” At once the fig tree withered.
20When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly? ”
21Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. # Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6; 1Co 13:2; Jms 1:6 22And if you believe, you will receive # Mt 7:7-8; Jn 11:22 whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Messiah’s Authority Challenged
23When He entered the temple complex, # Mk 11:27-33; Lk 20:1-8 the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority? ” # Ex 2:14; Mt 26:55; Ac 4:7; 7:27
24Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for Me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from men? ”
They began to argue among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him? ’ # Mt 13:54; Lk 7:30; 15:18,21; Jn 3:27 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, # Mt 14:5; 21:46; Mk 11:32; 12:12 because everyone thought John was a prophet.” # Mt 11:9; Mk 6:20 27So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go, work in the vineyard today.’ # Mt 20:1
29“He answered, ‘I don’t want to! ’ Yet later he changed his mind and went. 30Then the man went to the other and said the same thing.
“ ‘I will, sir,’ he answered. But he didn’t go.
31“Which of the two did his father’s will? ”
“The first,” they said.
Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you! 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, # Pr 8:20; Mt 3:8-12; 2Pt 2:21 and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him, but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner
33“Listen # Mk 12:1-12; Lk 20:9-19 to another parable: # Mt 13:3,34-36; 15:15; 22:1; 24:32 There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. # Is 5:1-2; Lk 14:28 He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. # Ps 80:8; Sg 8:11-12; Mt 25:14 34When the grape harvest # Lit the season of fruits drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his fruit. 35But the farmers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. # 2Ch 24:21; Neh 9:26; Mt 5:12; 23:34,37; Ac 7:52; 1Th 2:15; Heb 11:36-37 36Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. 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 among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance! ’ # Ps 2:8; Heb 1:2 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers? ”
41“He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told Him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at the harvest.” # Lit him the fruits in their seasons # Mt 8:11; Ac 13:46; 18:6; 28:28
42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone. # Lit the head of the corner
This came from the Lord
and is wonderful in our eyes? # Ps 118:22-23; Ac 4:11; Rm 9:33; 1Pt 2:7 # Ps 118:22-23
43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its # = the kingdom’s fruit. 44Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; # Is 8:14-15; Rm 9:32-33; 1Pt 2:8 but on whoever it falls, it will grind him to powder! ” # Other mss omit bracketed text
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, # Mt 13:3,35; 15:15; 21:33; 22:1; 24:32 they knew He was speaking about them. 46Although they were looking for a way to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because they # = the crowds regarded Him as a prophet. # Mt 26:4; Mk 11:18; Lk 19:47-48; Jn 7:25,30,44
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Matthew 21: HCSB
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Matthew 21
21
Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King
1As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers 2and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them, and he will send them at once.”
4This was to bring about what the prophet had said:
5“Tell the people of Jerusalem,
‘Your king is coming to you.
He is gentle and riding on a donkey,
on the colt of a donkey.’ ”#Isaiah 62:11; Zechariah 9:9
6The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. 7They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus and laid their coats on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting,
“Praise to the Son of David!
God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord!#Psalm 118:26
Praise to God in heaven!”
10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, all the city was filled with excitement. The people asked, “Who is this man?”
11The crowd said, “This man is Jesus, the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus Goes to the Temple
12Jesus went into the Temple and threw out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. 13Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer.’ But you are changing it into a ‘hideout for robbers.’ ”
14The blind and crippled people came to Jesus in the Temple, and he healed them. 15The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was doing wonderful things and that the children were praising him in the Temple, saying, “Praise to the Son of David.” All these things made the priests and the teachers of the law very angry.
16They asked Jesus, “Do you hear the things these children are saying?”
Jesus answered, “Yes. Haven’t you read in the Scriptures, ‘You have taught children and babies to sing praises’?”
17Then Jesus left and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Power of Faith
18Early the next morning, as Jesus was going back to the city, he became hungry. 19Seeing a fig tree beside the road, Jesus went to it, but there were no figs on the tree, only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again have fruit.” The tree immediately dried up.
20When his followers saw this, they were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”
21Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. 22If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”
Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority
23Jesus went to the Temple, and while he was teaching there, the leading priests and the elders of the people came to him. They said, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24Jesus answered, “I also will ask you a question. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 25Tell me: When John baptized people, did that come from God or just from other people?”
They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘It was from people,’ we are afraid of what the crowd will do because they all believe that John was a prophet.”
27So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.
A Story About Two Sons
28“Tell me what you think about this: A man had two sons. He went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ 29The son answered, ‘I will not go.’ But later the son changed his mind and went. 30Then the father went to the other son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ The son answered, ‘Yes, sir, I will go and work,’ but he did not go. 31Which of the two sons obeyed his father?”
The priests and leaders answered, “The first son.”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do. 32John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to change your ways and believe him.
A Story About God’s Son
33“Listen to this story: There was a man who owned a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a hole for a winepress and built a tower. Then he leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip. 34When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. 35But the farmers grabbed the servants, beat one, killed another, and then killed a third servant with stones. 36So the man sent some other servants to the farmers, even more than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to the servants that they had done before. 37So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. He said, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours!’ 39Then the farmers grabbed the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40So what will the owner of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?”
41The priests and leaders said, “He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the vineyard to some other farmers who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42Jesus said to them, “Surely you have read this in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.’ #Psalm 118:22–23
43“So I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who do the things God wants in his kingdom. 44The person who falls on this stone will be broken, and on whomever that stone falls, that person will be crushed.”
45When the leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew Jesus was talking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the people, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.