Matthew 21:1–22

The Triumphal Entry

21And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village before you, and right away you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them^* and^* bring them^* to me. ³And if anyone says anything to you, you will say, ‘The Lord needs them,’^a and he will send them at once.” ⁴Now this took place so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,

⁵“Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

and^b on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.’ ”^c

⁶So the disciples went^* and did^* just as Jesus directed them, ⁷and^* brought the donkey and the colt and put their^* cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸And a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them^* on the road. ⁹And the crowds who went ahead of him and the ones who followed were shouting, saying,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!^d

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”^*

¹⁰And when^* he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee!”

The Cleansing of the Temple

¹²And Jesus entered the temple courts^* and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. ¹³And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^e but you have made it a cave of robbers!”

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came up to him in the temple courts^* and he healed them. ¹⁵But when^* the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children shouting in the temple courts^* and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. ¹⁶And they said to him, “Do you hear what these children^* are saying?” So Jesus said to them, “Yes, have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing babies you have prepared for yourself praise’?”^{f 17}And leaving them, he went outside of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

A Barren Fig Tree Cursed

¹⁸Now early in the morning, as he^* was returning to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, “May there be no more fruit from you forever,^g and the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰And when they^* saw it,^* the disciples were astonished, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” ²¹And Jesus answered and^* said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will do not only what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen! ²²And whatever you ask in prayer, if you^* believe, you will receive.”