1 And when they had approached Jerusalem and had
come to Bethphage, to 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 there
and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me. 3 "And
if anyone says something to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of
them,' and immediately he will send them." 4 Now
this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be
fulfilled, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of
Zion, 'Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a
donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.' " 6 And
the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, 7 and
brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on F1
which He sat. 8 And most of the multitude spread
their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the
trees, and spreading them in the road. 9 And the
multitudes going before Him, and those who followed after were crying
out, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And
when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying,
"Who is this?" 11 And the multitudes were
saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all
those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the
tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling
doves. F2 13 And
He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house
of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers' DEN." F3
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the
temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief
priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and
the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna
to the Son of David," they became indignant, 16 and
said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus
said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of
infants and nursing babes Thou hast prepared praise for Thyself'?"
17 And
He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
18 Now in the morning, when He returned to the
city, He became hungry. 19 And seeing a lone fig tree
by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only;
and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from
you." And at once the fig tree withered. 20 And
seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree
wither at once?" 21 And Jesus answered and said
to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt,
you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say
to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. 22 "And
all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."
23 And when He had come into the temple, the chief
priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and
said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave
You this authority?" 24 And Jesus answered and
said to them, "I will ask you one thing F4
too, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do
these things. 25 "The baptism of John was from
what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning
among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to
us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' 26 "But
if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude; for they all hold John to
be a prophet." 27 And answering Jesus, they
said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither
will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 "But what do you think? A man had two
sons, F5 and he
came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.' 29 "And
he answered and said, 'I will, sir'; and he did not go. 30 "And
he came to the second and said the F6
same thing. But he answered and said, 'I will not'; yet he afterward
regretted it and went. 31 "Which of the two did
the will of his father?" They said, "The latter." Jesus
said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers F7
and harlots will F8
get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 "For
John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe
him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and you, seeing
this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
33 "Listen to another parable. There was a
landowner F9 who
planted a VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT,
AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers, F10
and went on a journey. 34 "And when the harvest
F11
time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his
produce. 35 "And the vine-growers took his
slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 "Again
he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the F12
same thing to them. 37 "But afterward he sent
his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 "But
when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is
the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.' 39 "And
they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 "Therefore
when the owner F13
of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" 41 They
said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and
will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the
proceeds at the proper seasons." 42 Jesus said
to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which
the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came
about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore
I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be
given to a nation producing the fruit of it. 44 "And
he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it
falls, it will scatter him like dust." 45 And
when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they
understood that He was speaking about them. 46 And
when they sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes, because they
held Him to be a prophet.
