< Matthew 21 >
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, opposite the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them: “Go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose her and bring them to me.
3 And if anyone says anything to you, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
4 Now all this happened so that what was spoken through the prophet should be fulfilled, namely:
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your King is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, in fact, a young donkey, foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 So going and doing just as Jesus had commanded them,
7 the disciples brought the female donkey and the young donkey. And they placed their clothes on them and He sat down on them [the clothes].
8 And the very large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
9 Then the crowds who went in front and those who followed kept crying out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 So when He came into Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds kept saying, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Natsareth of Galilee.”
12 Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold the doves.
13 And He says to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it ‘a cave of bandits’.”
14 And the lame and the blind came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
15 But seeing the wonders that He did, and the children calling out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” the chief priests and the scribes became indignant
16 and said to Him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” So Jesus says to them: “Yes. Have you never read that ‘Out of the mouth of babies and nursing infants You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”
17 Leaving them behind He went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
18 Now in the early morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
19 And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it, just leaves. And He says to it, “May you never again produce fruit!” And forthwith the fig tree started to wither. (aiōn )
20 And seeing it the disciples marveled saying, “How quickly the fig tree became withered!”
21 So in answer Jesus said to them: “Assuredly I say to you, if you (pl.) have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you should say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and be thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
22 And anything whatever you may ask in the believing prayer, you will receive.”
23 So He came into the temple, and as He was teaching the chief priests and the elders of the people approached Him saying, “By what kind of authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?”
24 But in answer Jesus said to them: “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things:
25 The baptism of John—where was it from; from heaven or from men?” So they reasoned among themselves saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for all consider John as a prophet.”
27 So in answer to Jesus they said, “We do not know.” So He said to them: “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 “But what do you think? A certain man had two sons, and going to the first he said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
29 But in answer he said, ‘I don't want to’ (but later he changed his mind and went).
30 And going to the other he said likewise. And in answer he said, ‘I go, Sir’; yet he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say to Him, “The first.” Jesus says to them: “Assuredly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will go into the kingdom of God before you do.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, yet when you saw it you did not afterward repent, so as to believe him.
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to farmers and went on a journey.
34 When vintage-time drew near he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruits.
35 But the farmers took his servants—one they beat, one they killed, one they stoned.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did to them likewise.
37 So finally he sent his son to them saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the farmers saw the son they said among themselves: ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.’
39 And taking him they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They say to Him: “He will miserably destroy those miserable men! And he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus says to them: “Did you never read in the Scriptures: ‘A stone which the builders rejected, this one became the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
44 Also, whoever falls upon this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45 As the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables they knew that He was speaking about them.
46 And although they wanted to seize Him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they considered Him as a prophet.
