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
The Royal Welcome
1-3When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”
4-5This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:
Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
foal of a pack animal.”
6-9The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”
10As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
11The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
He Kicked Over the Tables
12-14Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
15-16When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
17Fed up, Jesus spun around and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Withered Fig Tree
18-20Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
21-22But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
True Authority
23Then he was back in the Temple, teaching. The high priests and leaders of the people came up and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach here?”
24-25a Jesus responded, “First let me ask you a question. You answer my question and I’ll answer yours. About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans?”
25b-27 They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him; if we say ‘humans,’ we’re up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they answered.
Jesus said, “Then neither will I answer your question.
The Story of Two Sons
28“Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’
29“The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.
30“The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.
31-32“Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.
The Story of the Greedy Farmhands
33-34“Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
35-37“The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. ‘Surely,’ he thought, ‘they will respect my son.’
38-39“But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all for ourselves.’ They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.
40“Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?”
41“He’ll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance,” they answered. “Then he’ll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it’s time.”
42-44Jesus said, “Right—and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:
The stone the masons threw out
is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!
“This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.”
45-46When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.