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
1 AND WHEN they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead,
2 Saying to them, Go into the village that is opposite you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie [them] and bring [them] to Me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall reply, The Lord needs them, and he will let them go without delay.
4 This happened that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,
5 Say to the Daughter of Zion [inhabitants of Jerusalem], Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey [a beast of burden]. [Isa. 62:11; Zech. 9:9.]
6 Then the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their coats upon them, and He seated Himself on them [the clothing].
8 And most of the crowd kept spreading their garments on the road, and others kept cutting branches from the trees and scattering them on the road.
9 And the crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed Him kept shouting, Hosanna (O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David, [the Messiah]! Blessed (praised, glorified) is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna (O be favorably disposed) in the highest [heaven]! [Ps. 118:26.]
10 And when He entered Jerusalem, all the city became agitated and [trembling with excitement] said, Who is This?
11 And the crowds replied, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple (whole temple enclosure) and drove out all who bought and sold in the sacred place, and He turned over the four-footed tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold doves.
13 He said to them, The Scripture says, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. [Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11.]
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the porches and courts of the temple, and He cured them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did and the boys and the girls and the youths and the maidens crying out in the porches and courts of the temple, Hosanna (O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David! they were indignant.
16 And they said to Him, Do You hear what these are saying? And Jesus replied to them, Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have made (provided) perfect praise? [Ps. 8:2.]
17 And leaving them, He departed from the city and went out to Bethany and lodged there.
18 In the early dawn the next morning, as He was coming back to the city, He was hungry.
19 And as He saw one single leafy fig tree above the roadside, He went to it but He found nothing but leaves on it [seeing that in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. And He said to it, Never again shall fruit grow on you! And the fig tree withered up at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?
21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.
22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.
23 And when He entered the sacred enclosure of the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, By what power of authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this power of authority?
24 Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question, and if you give Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what power of authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John–from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned and argued with one another, If we say, From heaven, He will ask us, Why then did you not believe him?
26 But if we say, From men–we are afraid of and must reckon with the multitude, for they all regard John as a prophet.
27 So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And He said to them, Neither will I tell you by what power of authority I do these things.
28 What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first and said, Son, go and work today in the vineyard.
29 And he answered, I will not; but afterward he changed his mind and went.
30 Then the man came to the second and said the same [thing]. And he replied, I will [go], sir; but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of the father? They replied, The first one. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.
32 For John came to you walking in the way of an upright man in right standing with God, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots did believe him; and you, even when you saw that, did not afterward change your minds and believe him [adhere to, trust in, and rely on what he told you].
33 Listen to another parable: There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it and dug a wine vat in it and built a watchtower. Then he let it out [for rent] to tenants and went into another country.
34 When the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his [share of the] fruit.
35 But the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first time, and they treated them the same way.
37 Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, They will respect and give heed to my son.
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir; come on, let us kill him and have his inheritance.
39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what will he do to those tenants?
41 They said to Him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and rent the vineyard to other tenants of such a character that they will give him the fruits promptly in their season. [Isa. 5:1-7.]
42 Jesus asked them, Have you never read in the Scriptures: The very Stone which the builders rejected and threw away has become the Cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? [Ps. 118:22, 23.]
43 I tell you, for this reason the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the fruits of it.
44 And whoever falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom It falls will be crushed to powder [and It will winnow him, scattering him like dust]. [Isa. 8:14; Dan. 2:34, 35.]
45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables (comparisons, stories used to illustrate and explain), they perceived that He was talking about them.
46 And although they were trying to arrest Him, they feared the throngs because they regarded Him as a prophet.
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