Mark 11:15–33

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15aAnd they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^bthe money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^cpigeons. ¹⁶And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^d‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^eyou have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^fwere seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^gall the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19hAnd when evening came they² went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰ⁱAs they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹And Peter remembered and said to him, ^j“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²²And Jesus answered them, “Have ^kfaith in God. ^23lTruly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^m‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ⁿdoubt in his heart, but ^obelieves that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴Therefore I tell you, ^pwhatever you ask in prayer, ^obelieve that you ^qhave received³ it, and it will be yours. ²⁵And whenever ^ryou stand praying, ^sforgive, ^tif you have anything against anyone, so that ^uyour Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”⁴

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27vAnd they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸and they said to him, ^w“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was the baptism of John ^xfrom heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^y‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^zthey were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^aa prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”