Mark 11:15–33

The Cleansing of the Temple

¹⁵And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered into the temple courts^* and^* began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple courts,^* and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. ¹⁶And he did not permit anyone to carry objects^e through the temple courts.^{* 17}And he began to teach^f and was saying to them, “Is it not written,

‘My house will be called a house of prayer

for all the nations,’^g

but you have made it a cave of robbers!” ¹⁸And the chief priests and the scribes heard it,^* and began considering^h how they could destroy him. For they were afraid of him because the whole crowd was astounded by his teaching. ¹⁹And when evening came they went out of the city.

The Barren Fig Tree Withered

²⁰And as they^* passed by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. ²¹And Peter remembered and^* said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered!” ²²And Jesus answered and^* said to them, “Have faith in God! ²³Truly I say to you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea!’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. ²⁴For this reason I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it,^* and it will be done for you. ²⁵And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him,^* so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your sins.”ⁱ

Jesus’ Authority Challenged

²⁷And they came again to Jerusalem. And as^* he was walking in the temple courts,^* the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came up to him ²⁸and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority that you do these things?” ²⁹So Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ³⁰The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer me!” ³¹And they began to discuss^j this^* with one another, saying, “What should we say?^k If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they were afraid of the crowd, because they all looked upon John as truly a prophet.^{l 33}And they replied to Jesus saying, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”