Matthew 21:12–46

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.”

Jesus’ Authority Challenged

²³And after^* he arrived at the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he^* was teaching, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” ²⁴And Jesus answered and^* said to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell the answer^* to me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵From where was the baptism of John—from heaven or from men?” And they began to discuss^* this^* among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all look upon John as a prophet.” ²⁷And they answered and^* said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸“Now what do you think? A man had two sons. He approached^h the first and^* said, ‘Son, go work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹And he answered and^* said, ‘I do not want to!’ But later he changed his mind and^* went. ³⁰And he approached the secondⁱ and^* said the same thing. So he answered and^* said, ‘I will, sir,’ and he did not go. ³¹Which of the two did the will of his^j father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God! ³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And when^* you saw it,^* you did not even change your minds later so as to believe in him.

The Parable of the Tenant Farmers in the Vineyard

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a man—a master of a house—who planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. ³⁴And when the season of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. ³⁵And the tenant farmers seized his slaves, one of whom they beat, and one of whom they killed, and one of whom they stoned. ³⁶Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first ones, and they did the same thing to them. ³⁷So finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸But when^* the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance!’ ³⁹And they seized him and^* threw him^* out of the vineyard and killed him.^{* 40}Now when the master of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those tenant farmers?” ⁴¹They said to him, “He will destroy those evil men completely and lease the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruits in their season.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected,

this has become the cornerstone.^k

This came about from the Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?^l

⁴³For this reason, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people^m who produce its fruits. ⁴⁴And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls—it will crush him!” ⁴⁵And when^* the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them, ⁴⁶and although they^* wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they looked upon him as a prophet.