Matthew 21:12–27

Cleansing the Temple

^12aAnd Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the ^bmoney changers and the seats of those who were selling ^cdoves.

¹³And He ^*said to them, “It is written, ‘^aMy house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^brobbers’ ¹den.”

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and ^aHe healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things which He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the ^aSon of David,” they became indignant

¹⁶and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus ^*said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘^aOut of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”

¹⁷And He left them and went out of the city to ^aBethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18aNow in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a lone ^afig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He ^*said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”

²¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^aif you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.

²²“And ^aall things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^23aAnd when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^bwhile He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”

²⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one ¹thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵“The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

²⁶“But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd; for they all regard John as ^aa prophet.”

²⁷And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.