Matthew 21

1When they approached Jerusalem and reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples.

2saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.”

3And if anyone says something to you, you will say, "The Lord has need of them," and right away he will send them.

4Now this took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, as he said.

5Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your king comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

6The disciples went and did just as Jesus ordered them.

7They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes upon them, and he sat on them.

8Most of the crowd spread their own clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

9The crowds going before him and those following shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

10And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, "Who is this?"

11But the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.”

12And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying there, and he overturned the money changers' tables 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 make it a den of robbers.”

14And in the temple the blind and lame approached him, and he healed them.

15But the chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonders he performed and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” became indignant.

16They said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have perfected praise'?"

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

18Early in the morning, as he returned to the city, he grew hungry.

19And seeing one fig tree beside the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. He said to it, “No longer may fruit come from you forever!” And immediately the fig tree withered.

20And seeing it, the disciples were amazed, saying, "How did the fig tree dry up immediately?"

21Jesus answered them, "I assure you, if you have faith and do not waver, you will not only perform what happened to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted and thrown into the sea,' it will happen."

22And all that you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

23When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he taught and asked, "With what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?"

24Jesus answered them, "I too will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I too will tell you by what authority I do these things."

25From where was John's baptism—from heaven or from men? They deliberated among themselves, saying, "If we say 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why didn't you believe him then?'"

26But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.

27And they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things."

28But what do you suppose? A man had two sons; he came to the first and said, “Son, go work today in the vineyard.”

29He answered, "I will not," but later he relented and went.

30He went to the second and said the same. He answered, "I go, sir," but did not go.

31Which of the two did the father's will?" They replied, "The first." Jesus told them, "Yes, I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God's kingdom ahead of you.

32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him; yet you, even after seeing that, did not repent afterward so as to believe him.

33Listen to another parable: A certain man who was a householder planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it to farmers, and went away on a journey.

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

35And the farmers seized his servants—one they beat, another they killed, and another they stoned.

36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

37But later he sent his son to them, saying, “They will revere my son.”

38But the farmers, seeing the son, said to one another, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance."

39They seized him, drove him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

40Therefore, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?

41They say to him, "He will wretchedly destroy those wicked men, and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will deliver the fruits to him in their seasons."

42Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits.

44And whoever falls on this stone will be crushed, but it will pulverize whomever it falls on.

45And the chief priests and the Pharisees, upon hearing his parables, realized that he was speaking about them.

46And though they wanted to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they regarded him as a prophet.