Matthew 21:1–22

The Triumphal Entry

21When they approached Jerusalem ^sand came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, ^tJesus then sent two disciples, ²telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. ³If anyone says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.”

⁴This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁵Tell Daughter Zion,

“Look, your King is coming to you,

gentle, and mounted on a donkey,

even on a colt,

the foal of a beast of burden.” ^uv

⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

He who comes in the name

of the Lord is the blessed One! ^w

Hosanna in the highest heaven! ^x

¹⁰When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus ^yfrom Nazareth in Galilee!”

Cleansing the Temple Complex

¹²Jesus went into the temple complex ^zaand drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves. ^b13And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer. ^cBut you are making it a den of thieves!” ^de

Children Praise Jesus

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. ¹⁵When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant ¹⁶and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read:

You have prepared ^fpraise ^g

from the mouths of children and nursing infants?” ^h

¹⁷Then He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, ⁱand spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

¹⁸Early in the morning, ^jas He was returning to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹Jesus answered them, “^•I assure 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 tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. ^k22And if you believe, you will receive ^lwhatever you ask for in prayer.”