Matthew 21

¹ When they were near Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus senttwo disciples,

² saying to them, 'Go to the village facing you, and you wil at once find a tethered donkey and a coltwith her. Untie them and bring them to me.

³ If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, "The Master needs them and wil send them back atonce." '

⁴ This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet:

⁵ Say to the daughter of Zion: Look, your king is approaching, humble and riding on a donkey and on acolt, the foal of a beast of burden.

⁶ So the disciples went and did as Jesus had told them.

⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt, then they laid their cloaks on their backs and he took his seaton them.

⁸ Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road, while others were cutting branches from thetrees and spreading them in his path.

⁹ The crowds who went in front of him and those who fol owed were al shouting: Hosanna to the son ofDavid! Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heavens!

¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil as people asked, 'Who is this?'

¹¹ and the crowds answered, 'This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.'

¹² Jesus then went into the Temple and drove out al those who were selling and buying there; he upsetthe tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dove-sel ers.

¹³ He said to them, 'According to scripture, my house wil be cal ed a house of prayer; but you areturning it into a bandits' den.'

¹⁴ There were also blind and lame people who came to him in the Temple, and he cured them.

¹⁵ At the sight of the wonderful things he did and of the children shouting, 'Hosanna to the son of David'in the Temple, the chief priests and the scribes were indignant and said to him,

¹⁶ 'Do you hear what they are saying?' Jesus answered, 'Yes. Have you never read this: By the mouthsof children, babes in arms, you have made sure of praise?'

¹⁷ With that he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

¹⁸ As he was returning to the city in the early morning, he felt hungry.

¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it,'May you never bear fruit again,' and instantly the fig tree withered.

²⁰ The disciples were amazed when they saw it and said, 'How is it that the fig tree withered instantly?'

²¹ Jesus answered, 'In truth I tel you, if you have faith and do not doubt at all, not only wil you do what Ihave done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be pul ed up and thrown into the sea," it will be done.

²² And if you have faith, everything you ask for in prayer, you wil receive.'

²³ He had gone into the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests and the elders of the peoplecame to him and said, 'What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave you this authority?'

²⁴ In reply Jesus said to them, 'And I will ask you a question, just one; if you tell me the answer to it,then I wil tel you my authority for acting like this.

²⁵ John's baptism: what was its origin, heavenly or human?' And they argued this way amongthemselves, 'If we say heavenly, he wil retort to us, "Then why did you refuse to believe him?";

²⁶ but if we say human, we have the people to fear, for they al hold that John was a prophet.'

²⁷ So their reply to Jesus was, 'We do not know.' And he retorted to them, 'Nor wil I tel you my authorityfor acting like this.'

²⁸ 'What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, "My boy, go and work inthe vineyard today."

²⁹ He answered, "I will not go," but afterwards thought better of it and went.

³⁰ The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, "Certainly, sir," but did notgo.

³¹ Which of the two did the father's wil ?' They said, 'The first.' Jesus said to them, 'In truth I tel you, taxcol ectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you.

³² For John came to you, showing the way of uprightness, but you did not believe him, and yet the taxcol ectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.

³³ 'Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced itround, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad.

³⁴ When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to col ect his produce.

³⁵ But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, kil ed another and stoned a third.

³⁶ Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the sameway.

³⁷ Final y he sent his son to them thinking, "They will respect my son."

³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kil himand take over his inheritance."

³⁹ So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and kil ed him.

⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?'

⁴¹ They answered, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to othertenants who wil deliver the produce to him at the proper time.'

⁴² Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected hasbecome the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it?

⁴³ 'I tel you, then, that the kingdom of God wil be taken from you and given to a people who willproduce its fruit.'

⁴⁴

⁴⁵ When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking aboutthem,

⁴⁶ but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him asa prophet.