The Triumphal Entry

1When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to ²²¹Bethsphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead,

2telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me.

3If anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The Lord has need of them.’ And immediately he will send them.”

4Now ²²²all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:

5“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, yoʋr king is coming to yoʋ,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
and ²²³a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

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

7They brought the donkey and the colt and laid on them their garments, and ²²⁴Jesus sat on them.

8A very large crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut down branches from the trees and also spread them on the road.

9The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed were crying out,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”

10As he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

11So the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, who is from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple Courts

12Then Jesus entered the ²²⁵courts of God's temple and drove out all who were selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

13And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you ²²⁶have made it a den of robbers.”

14Then the ²²⁷lame and the blind came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them.

15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant

16and said to him, “Do yoʋ hear what these children are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes, have you never read,
‘Out of the mouths of babies and nursing infants
yoʋ have prepared praise’?”

17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

18Early in the morning, as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry.

19Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May there never be any fruit from yoʋ again!” And at once the fig tree withered.

20When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”

21Jesus answered them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

22And if you have faith, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

23When he entered the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are yoʋ doing these things? And who gave yoʋ this authority?”

24Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you tell me the answer, I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

25Where did John's authority to baptize come from? From heaven or from men?” So they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

26But we are afraid of what the crowd might do if we say, ‘From men,’ for everyone regards John as a prophet.”

27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” Then he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to his first son and said, ‘Son, go work today in ²²⁸my vineyard.’

29His son answered, ‘I will ²²⁹not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.

30Then the man went to his ²³⁰second son and said the same thing. His second son answered, ‘I will ²³¹go, sir,’ but he did not go.

31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said ²³²to him, “The ²³³first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.

32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

33“Listen to another parable: There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it to farmers, and left the country.

34When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit.

35But the farmers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned yet another.

36Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the farmers treated them in the same way.

37Last of all, he sent them his son, saying, ‘They will have respect for my son.’

38But 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.’

39So they took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

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

41They said to him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?

43Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was speaking about them.

46Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.