Mark 11

The Triumphal Entry

11When ^zthey approached Jerusalem, ^aat Bethphage and Bethany ^bnear the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples ²and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ”

⁴So they went and found a young donkey outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, ⁵and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the donkey?” ⁶They answered them just as Jesus had said, so they let them go. ⁷Then they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it, and He sat on it.

⁸Many people spread their robes on the road, ^cand others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. ^d9Then those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting:

Hosanna!

He who comes in the name ^e

of the Lord is the blessed One! ^fg

¹⁰The coming kingdom ^h

of our father David ⁱis blessed!

Hosanna ^jin the highest heaven!

¹¹And He went into Jerusalem ^kand into the temple complex. ^lAfter looking around at everything, since it was already late, He went out to Bethany ^mwith the Twelve.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Cursed

¹²The ⁿnext day when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry. ¹³After seeing in the distance a fig ^otree with leaves, He went to find out if there was anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit ^pfrom you again!” ^qAnd His disciples ^rheard it.

Cleansing the Temple Complex

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, ^sand He went into the temple complex ^tand began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ ^utables and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex.

¹⁷Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, ^vMy house ^wwill be called a house of prayer ^xfor all nations? ^yBut you have made it a den of thieves!” ^za18Then the chief priests and the scribes ^bheard it and started looking for a way to destroy Him. For they were afraid ^cof Him, because the whole crowd was astonished by His teaching.

¹⁹And whenever evening came, they would go out of the city.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Withered

²⁰Early ^din the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹Then Peter ^eremembered and said to Him, “Rabbi, ^flook! The fig tree that You cursed ^gis withered.”

²²Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God. ^h23•I assure you: ⁱIf anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt ^jin his heart, but believes ^kthat what he says will happen, it will be done for him. ^l24Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray ^mand ask for ⁿ—believe that you have received ^opthem, and you will have them. ²⁵And whenever you stand ^qpraying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive ^rhim, so that your Father ^sin heaven ^twill also forgive ^uyou your wrongdoing. [²⁶But if you don’t forgive, neither will your Father in heaven ^vforgive your wrongdoing.]” ^wx

Messiah’s Authority Challenged

²⁷They ^ycame again to Jerusalem. ^zAs He was walking in the temple complex, ^athe chief priests, the scribes, ^band the elders ^ccame ²⁸and asked Him, “By what authority ^dare You doing these things? Who gave You this authority to do these things?”

²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; ^ethen answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ³⁰Was John’s baptism ^ffrom heaven or from men? Answer Me.”

³¹They began to argue among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe ^ghim?’ ³²But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was a genuine prophet. ^h33So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”