Matthew 21:1–46

¹Well, when they got close to Jerusalem and arrived at Beth′pha‧ge on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent forth two disciples,²saying to them: “Be on ​YOUR​ way into the village that is within sight of ​YOU, and ​YOU​ will at once find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.³And if someone says anything to ​YOU, ​YOU​ must say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ At that he will immediately send them forth.”

⁴This actually took place that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, saying:⁵“TELL​ the daughter of Zion, ‘Look! Your King is coming to you, mild‐tempered, and mounted upon an ass, yes, upon a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.’”

⁶So the disciples got on their way and did just as Jesus ordered them.⁷And they brought the ass and its colt, and they put upon these their outer garments, and he seated himself upon them.⁸Most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.⁹As for the crowds, those going ahead of him and those following kept crying out: “Save, we pray, the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name! Save him, we pray, in the heights above!”

¹⁰Now when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was set in commotion, saying: “Who is this?”¹¹The crowds kept telling: “This is the prophet Jesus, from Naz′a‧reth of Gal′i‧lee!”

¹²And Jesus entered into the temple and threw out all those selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.¹³And he said to them: “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but ​YOU​ are making it a cave of robbers.”¹⁴Also, blind and lame persons came up to him in the temple, and he cured them.

¹⁵When the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things he did and the boys that were crying out in the temple and saying: “Save, we pray, the Son of David!” they became indignant¹⁶and said to him: “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them: “Yes. Did ​YOU​ never read this, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have furnished praise’?”¹⁷And leaving them behind he went outside the city to Beth′a‧ny and passed the night there.

¹⁸While returning to the city early in the morning, he got hungry.¹⁹And he caught sight of a fig tree by the road and went to it, but he found nothing on it except leaves only, and he said to it: “Let no fruit come from you anymore forever.” And the fig tree withered instantly.²⁰But when the disciples saw this, they wondered, saying: “How is it that the fig tree withered instantly?”²¹In answer Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to ​YOU, If only ​YOU​ have faith and do not doubt, not only will ​YOU​ do what I did to the fig tree, but also if ​YOU​ say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.²²And all the things ​YOU​ ask in prayer, having faith, ​YOU​ will receive.”

²³Now after he went into the temple, the chief priests and the older men of the people came up to him while he was teaching and said: “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?”²⁴In reply Jesus said to them: “I, also, will ask ​YOU​ one thing. If ​YOU​ tell it to me, I also will tell ​YOU​ by what authority I do these things:²⁵The baptism by John, from what source was it? From heaven or from men?” But they began to reason among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did ​YOU​ not believe him?’²⁶If, though, we say, ‘From men,’ we have the crowd to fear, for they all hold John as a prophet.”²⁷So in answer to Jesus they said: “We do not know.” He, in turn, said to them: “Neither am I telling ​YOU​ by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“What do ​YOU​ think? A man had two children. Going up to the first, he said, ‘Child, go work today in the vineyard.’²⁹In answer this one said, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go out.³⁰Approaching the second, he said the same. In reply this one said, ‘I will not.’ Afterwards he felt regret and went out.³¹Which of the two did the will of [his] father?” They said: “The latter.” Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to ​YOU​ that the tax collectors and the harlots are going ahead of ​YOU​ into the kingdom of God.³²For John came to ​YOU​ in a way of righteousness, but ​YOU​ did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and the harlots believed him, and ​YOU, although ​YOU​ saw [this], did not feel regret afterwards so as to believe him.

³³“Hear another illustration: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and erected a tower, and let it out to cultivators, and traveled abroad.³⁴When the season of the fruits came around, he dispatched his slaves to the cultivators to get his fruits.³⁵However, the cultivators took his slaves, and one they beat up, another they killed, another they stoned.³⁶Again he dispatched other slaves, more than the first, but they did the same to these.³⁷Lastly he dispatched his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’³⁸On seeing the son the cultivators said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance!’³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those cultivators?”⁴¹They said to him: “Because they are evil, he will bring an evil destruction upon them and will let out the vineyard to other cultivators, who will render him the fruits when they become due.”

⁴²Jesus said to them: “Did ​YOU​ never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected is the one that has become the chief cornerstone. From Jehovah this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?⁴³This is why I say to ​YOU, The kingdom of God will be taken from ​YOU​ and be given to a nation producing its fruits.⁴⁴Also, the person falling upon this stone will be shattered. As for anyone upon whom it falls, it will pulverize him.”

⁴⁵Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees had heard his illustrations, they took note that he was speaking about them.⁴⁶But, although they were seeking to seize him, they feared the crowds, because these held him to be a prophet.