Matthew 21
21
1And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, unto the mount of the Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2saying to them, ‘Go on to the village over-against you, and immediately ye shall find an ass bound, and a colt with her — having loosed, bring ye to me;
3and if any one may say anything to you, ye shall say, that the lord hath need of them, and immediately he will send them.’
4And all this came to pass, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through the prophet, saying,
5‘Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Lo, thy king doth come to thee, meek, and mounted on an ass, and a colt, a foal of a beast of burden.’
6And the disciples having gone and having done as Jesus commanded them,
7brought the ass and the colt, and did put on them their garments, and set [him] upon them;
8and the very great multitude spread their own garments in the way, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and were strewing in the way,
9and the multitudes who were going before, and who were following, were crying, saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.’
10And he having entered into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, ‘Who is this?’
11And the multitudes said, ‘This is Jesus the prophet, who [is] from Nazareth of Galilee.’
12And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and did cast forth all those selling and buying in the temple, and the tables of the money-changers he overturned, and the seats of those selling the doves,
13and he saith to them, ‘It hath been written, My house a house of prayer shall be called, but ye did make it a den of robbers.’
14And there came to him blind and lame men in the temple, and he healed them,
15and the chief priests and the scribes having seen the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ were much displeased;
16and they said to him, ‘Hearest thou what these say?’ And Jesus saith to them, ‘Yes, did ye never read, that, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou didst prepare praise?’
17And having left them, he went forth out of the city to Bethany, and did lodge there,
18and in the morning turning back to the city, he hungered,
19and having seen a certain fig-tree on the way, he came to it, and found nothing in it except leaves only, and he saith to it, ‘No more from thee may fruit be — to the age;’ and forthwith the fig-tree withered.
20And the disciples having seen, did wonder, saying, ‘How did the fig-tree forthwith wither?’
21And Jesus answering said to them, ‘Verily I say to you, If ye may have faith, and may not doubt, not only this of the fig-tree shall ye do, but even if to this mount ye may say, Be lifted up and be cast into the sea, it shall come to pass;
22and all — as much as ye may ask in the prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’
23And he having come to the temple, there came to him when teaching the chief priests and the elders of the people, saying, ‘By what authority dost thou do these things? and who gave thee this authority?’
24And Jesus answering said to them, ‘I will ask you — I also — one word, which if ye may tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things;
25the baptism of John, whence was it? — from heaven, or from men?’ And they were reasoning with themselves, saying, ‘If we should say, From heaven; he will say to us, Wherefore, then, did ye not believe him?
26and if we should say, From men, we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.’
27And answering Jesus they said, ‘We have not known.’ He said to them — he also — ‘Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28‘And what think ye? A man had two children, and having come to the first, he said, Child, go, to-day be working in my vineyard.’
29And he answering said, ‘I will not,’ but at last, having repented, he went.
30‘And having come to the second, he said in the same manner, 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 saith to them, ‘Verily I say to you, that the tax-gatherers and the harlots do go before you into the reign of God,
32for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye did not believe him, and the tax-gatherers and the harlots did believe him, and ye, having seen, repented not at last — to believe him.
33‘Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.
34‘And when the season of the fruits came nigh, he sent his servants unto the husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it,
35and the husbandmen having taken his servants, one they scourged, and one they killed, and one they stoned.
36‘Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them in the same manner.
37‘And at last he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son;
38and the husbandmen having seen the son, said among themselves, This is the heir, come, we may kill him, and may possess his inheritance;
39and having taken him, they cast [him] out of the vineyard, and killed him;
40whenever therefore the lord of the vineyard may come, what will he do to these husbandmen?’
41They say to him, ‘Evil men — he will evilly destroy them, and the vineyard will give out to other husbandmen, who will give back to him the fruits in their seasons.’
42Jesus saith to them, ‘Did ye never read in the Writings, A stone that the builders disallowed, it became head of a corner; from the Lord hath this come to pass, and it is wonderful in our eyes.
43‘Because of this I say to you, that the reign of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruit;
44and he who is falling on this stone shall be broken, and on whomsoever it may fall it will crush him to pieces.’
45And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard his similes, knew that of them he speaketh,
46and seeking to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, seeing they were holding him as a prophet.
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Matthew 21: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
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.