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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Matthew 21: AMPC
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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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