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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 this, just say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ He will at once let you have the donkeys.”[#21.3 Or “The master of 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 which they had cut from trees.[#21.8 This was one way that the Jewish people welcomed a famous person.]
9Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others followed behind. They were all shouting,[#Ps 118.25,26.]
“Hooray for the Son of David!
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 crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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 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.
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!” Right then 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 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.”
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 God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn't believe John.
26On the other hand, these people think John was a prophet, and we are afraid of what they might do to us. That's why we can't say 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.”
28Jesus said:
“The older one,” the chief priests and leaders answered.
Then Jesus told them:
33Jesus told the chief priests and leaders to listen to this story:[#Is 5.1,2.]
40Jesus asked, “When the owner of that vineyard comes, what do you suppose he will do to those renters?”
41The chief priests and leaders answered, “He will kill them in some horrible way. Then he will rent out his vineyard to people who will give him his share of grapes at harvest time.”
42Jesus replied, “You surely know that the Scriptures say,[#Ps 118.22,23.]
‘The stone 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 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 Verse 44 is not in some manuscripts.]
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew 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.