NAS - Matthew 21:1-27

21 The Triumphal Entry

¹When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.³"If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, `The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ⁵"SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, `BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'" ⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. ⁸Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" ¹⁰When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" ¹¹And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."

Cleansing the Temple

¹²And Jesus entered the temple and drove 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. ¹³And He *said to them, "It is written, `MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN."

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant ¹⁶and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus *said to them, "Yes; have you never read, `OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"¹⁷And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

¹⁸Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you."And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?" ²¹And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.²²"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Authority Challenged

²³When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" ²⁴Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.²⁵"The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?"And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, `From heaven,' He will say to us, `Then why did you not believe him?' ²⁶"But if we say, `From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet." ²⁷And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.