Matthew

¹As they were approaching Jerusalem and came to Bethsphage,²⁸⁵ to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples [ahead of the group]. ²He told them, “Go into the village that is opposite 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 immediately, he will let them go.”

⁴All this was done so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁵Tell the daughter of Zion,

behold, your King comes to you,

humble, and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.²⁸⁶

⁶The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus had instructed them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and Jesus sat on them.^{287 8}A very great crowd spread their clothes on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹Many people went before him and those who followed kept shouting, “Hosanna²⁸⁸ to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”²⁸⁹

¹⁰When he had come into Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred up and people were saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the multitude answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee!”

The cleansing of the temple

¹²Jesus entered into the temple of God²⁹⁰ and drove out all of those who did business there.²⁹¹ He overthrew the table of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’²⁹² but you have made it a den of thieves!”²⁹³

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he was doing and that children were shouting in the temple and saying “Hosanna to the son of David!,” they were very displeased. ¹⁶They asked him, “Do you hear what these [children] are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes! Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise?’”²⁹⁴

The cursing of the fig tree

¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there. ¹⁸In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you, unto the ages!”

Immediately the fig tree withered away! ²⁰When the disciples saw it, they marveled and asked, “How did the fig tree wither away at once?”

²¹Jesus answered them, “Amen, I tell you that if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done! ²²Whatever things you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive them all!”

By what authority

²³When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the presbyters of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question and if you answer me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd because everyone considers John as a prophet.” ²⁷So they answered Jesus: “We do not know.”

He also said to them, “Then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The parable of the two sons—The parable of the vineyard tenants

²⁸”But what do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ ²⁹The son answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he was sorry²⁹⁵ and went. ³⁰The father came to his second son, and said the same thing. The son answered, ‘I will go, sir,’²⁹⁶ but he did not go. ³¹Which one of the two sons did the will of his father?”

They replied, “The first.”²⁹⁷

Jesus said to them, “Amen, I tell you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before²⁹⁸ you! 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. After seeing this, you did not even repent and you did not believe him.

³³Hear another parable. There was a man who was the owner²⁹⁹ of a household. He planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and leased it out to farmers. He then left for another country. ³⁴When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers, to receive his fruit. ³⁵But the farmers took his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned yet another. ³⁶Again, the owner sent other slaves, even more than the first time; and they treated them in the same way. ³⁷Then he sent his son to them, saying: ‘They will respect my son!’ ³⁸But the farmers, when they saw the son, said to each other, ‘This is the heir! Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹And so they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard returns, what will he do with those farmers?”

⁴¹They answered him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and he will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit in its season.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The [very] stone which the builders rejected

was made the head of the corner.

This was from the Lord and

it is marvelous in our eyes?’³⁰⁰

⁴³Therefore, I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and it will be given to a people³⁰¹ bringing forth its fruit. ⁴⁴Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and whoever it will fall on will be scattered as dust.”³⁰²

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he had spoken about them. ⁴⁶They began to look for a way to arrest Jesus,³⁰³ but they feared the crowds because the people considered him to be a prophet.

The parable of the wedding feast—The wedding garment

285. TR & CT read “Bethphage” instead of “Bethsphage”
286. Zechariah 9:9
287. There are several types of variant readings for verses 5-7 which attempt to harmonize Matthew’s account with the fact that the other evangelists mention only one animal.
288. “Hosanna” means “save us” or “help us, we pray.”
289. Psalm 118:26/LXX 117
290. CT omits “of God”
291. Or “sold and bought in the temple”
292. Isaias 56:7
293. Jeremiah 7:11
294. Psalm 8:2. NT agrees with LXX against MT.
295. Greek metamelhqei.j—or “changed his mind”
296. Or “Lord” (ku,rie)
297. A few manuscripts, notably D, read “the second” which is unlikely but presents the Jewish leaders as spoiling the parable by giving (seemingly deliberately,) the wrong answer.
298. Or “ahead of”
299. Or “master”
300. Psalm 118:22-23/117 LXX
301. Greek e;qnei
302. CT brackets this verse
303. Greek “him”