Matthew 21
1 When they came near Jerusalem and reached Bethphage, by the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples.
2 He said to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and right away you will find a donkey tied there, with a colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, reply, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them right away.”
4 This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your King is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on top.
8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds going ahead of him and those following him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds replied, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple and drove out everyone who was selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
13 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.”
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 But the chief priests and the teachers of the Law saw the wonders he had performed and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They were indignant.
16 They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
17 Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he felt hungry.
19 Seeing a fig tree beside the road, he went over to it and found nothing on it except leaves. So he said to it, “May no fruit ever grow on you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will do not only 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.
22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
23 When he entered the temple and was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 Where did John's baptism come from? From heaven or from people?” They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From people,’ we fear the crowd, because everyone regards John as a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don't know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
29 He replied, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go.
30 He went to the second and said the same thing. He replied, ‘I don't want to.’ But later he changed his mind and went.
31 Which of the two did what his father wanted?” They answered, “The second.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even after you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
33 “Listen to another parable. A landowner planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.
34 When the time for the fruit came, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.
35 But the tenant farmers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they treated them the same way.
37 Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.’
39 They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
41 They answered him, “He will bring those wicked men to a terrible end and lease the vineyard to other tenant farmers, who will give him the fruit at the proper times.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this came from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes’?
43 So I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who produce its fruit.
44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them.
46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.
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