Matthew 21:4-46

4Now 1this 2took place so that what was spoken through 3the prophet would be fulfilled:5“4Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on 5the cloaks. 8Most of the crowd 6spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “7Hosanna to the 8Son of David; 9Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord; 10Hosanna 11in the highest!” 10When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11And the crowds were saying, “This is 12Jesus the prophet, from 13Nazareth in Galilee.”

1214And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the 15money changers and the seats of those who were selling 16doves. 13And He said to them, “It is written: ‘17My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a 18den of robbers.”

14And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and 19He healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “20Hosanna to the 21Son of David,” they became indignant, 16and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘22From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” 17And He left them and went out of the city to 23Bethany, and spent the night there.

1824Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19And seeing a lone 25fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

20Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and 26asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, 27if you have faith and do not doubt, you will 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 will happen. 22And 28whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

2329When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him 30while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one 31question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the 32people; for they all regard John as 33a prophet.” 27And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

28“But what do you think? A man had two 34sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘35Son, go work today in the 36vineyard.’ 29But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. 30And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that 37the tax collectors and prostitutes 38will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but 39the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even 40have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

33“Listen to another parable. 41There was a 42landowner who 43planted a 44vineyard and put a 45fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to 46vine-growers and 47went on a journey. 34And when the 48harvest time approached, he 49sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. 35And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he 50sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. 37But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ 39And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Therefore, when the 51owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and 52lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

42Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘53A stone which the builders rejected, This has become the 54chief cornerstone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a 55people producing its fruit. 44And 56the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46And although they sought to arrest Him, they 57feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a 58prophet.