Matthew 21

1When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and they will send them at once.”

4This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying,

5“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look—your king is coming to you,
gentle and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9And the crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

10And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” 11And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

12And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. 13And he said to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’
but you are making it a den of robbers.”

14And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. 16And they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,
‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?” 17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Jesus and the Fig Tree

18In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, “May fruit never come from you again.” And at once the fig tree withered.

20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21And Jesus answered them, “Truly I say to you, if 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 lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The Authority of Jesus

23And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you answer me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John—from where was it? From heaven or from human beings?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Two Sons

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Child, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29And he answered, ‘I do not want to.’ But later he changed his mind and went. 30And going to the second, he said the same. And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of the father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And you, when you saw it, did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

33“Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 34When the season of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to receive his fruit. 35And the tenants took his servants; one they beat, another they killed, and another they stoned. 36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.’ 39And they took him and threw him outside the vineyard and killed him.

40Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, “Those evil men—he will bring them to an evil end, and he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this came 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 people producing its fruits. 44And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but the one on whom it falls, it will crush.”

45And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. 46And although they were seeking to seize him, they feared the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.