Matthew 21

And when they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

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

And if anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The Lord has need of them and he will immediately send them back here.’”

Now this took place with the result that what was spoken through the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

And the disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them,

and brought the donkey and her colt and put their outer garments on them, and he sat on them.

And most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and were spreading them on the road.

And the crowd that went in front of 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!”

And when he had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth of Galilee.”

And Jesus went into the Temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the Temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves,

and he said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”

And the blind and lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying out in the Temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry.

And they 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 little children and nursing children you have brought forth praise?”

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

Now in the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.

And having seen a lone fig tree by the path, he went up to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you any longer forever.” And immediately the fig tree withered.

And seeing this, the disciples were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither immediately?”

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

And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

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?”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question, which, if you tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Where was the baptism of John from? From heaven or of human origin?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the people because they all considered John to be a prophet.”

And so they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things.

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘My child, go work today in the vineyard.’

And he answered and said, ‘I do not want to.’ But afterward he changed his mind and went.

And having approached the other son, he said the same thing. And he answered and said, ‘I will go, lord,’ but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you.

For John came to you in the path of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. But you, when you saw that, did not afterward change your mind and believe him.

“Listen to another parable. There was a man, the head of a house, who planted a vineyard, and put a wall around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and rented it out to some farmers, and went away on a journey.

And when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit.

And the farmers took his servants and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

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

And last of all he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’

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

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

They say to him, “Those wretched men—He will destroy them in a wretched way, and will rent out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”

Jesus 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?’

“Therefore I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls it will grind to powder.”

And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them.

And they were seeking to arrest him but they were afraid of the crowds because they considered him to be a prophet.