Matthew 21:12–46

¹²And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those that sold the doves. ¹³And he says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers. ¹⁴And blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which he wrought, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant, ¹⁶and said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus says to them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? ¹⁷And leaving them he went forth out of the city to Bethany, and there he passed the night.

¹⁸But early in the morning, as he came back into the city, he hungered. ¹⁹And seeing one fig-tree in the way, he came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And he says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee for ever. And the fig-tree was immediately dried up. ²⁰And when the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, How immediately is the fig-tree dried up! ²¹And Jesus answering said to them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and do not doubt, not only shall ye do what is done to the fig-tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea, it shall come to pass. ²²And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

²³And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, saying, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? ²⁴And Jesus answering said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things: ²⁵The baptism of John, whence was it? of heaven or of men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him? ²⁶but if we should say, Of men, we fear the crowd, for all hold John for a prophet. ²⁷And answering Jesus they said, We do not know. He also said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸But what think ye? A man had two children, and coming to the first he said, Child, go to-day, work in my vineyard. ²⁹And he answering said, I will not; but afterwards repenting himself he went. ³⁰And coming to the second he said likewise; and he answering said, I go, sir, and went not. ³¹Which of the two did the will of the father? They say to him, The first. Jesus says to them, Verily I say unto you that the tax-gatherers and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots believed him; but ye when ye saw it repented not yourselves afterwards to believe him.

³³Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country. ³⁴But when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his bondmen to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. ³⁵And the husbandmen took his bondmen, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again he sent other bondmen more than the first, and they did to them in like manner. ³⁷And at last he sent to them his son, saying, They will have respect for my son. ³⁸But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. ³⁹And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what shall he do to those husbandmen? ⁴¹They say to him, He will miserably destroy those evil men, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. ⁴²Jesus says to them, Have ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which they that builded rejected, this has become the corner-stone: this is of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? ⁴³Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴And he that falls on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. ⁴⁵And the chief priests and the Pharisees, having heard his parables, knew that he spoke about them. ⁴⁶And seeking to lay hold of him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they held him for a prophet.