Matthew 21:1–22

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King

21As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers ²and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them, and he will send them at once.”

⁴This was to bring about what the prophet had said:

⁵“Tell the people of Jerusalem,

‘Your king is coming to you.

He is gentle and riding on a donkey,

on the colt of a donkey.’ ”

⁶The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus and laid their coats on them, and Jesus sat on them. ⁸Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting,

“Praise ⁿ to the Son of David!

God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

Praise to God in heaven!”

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, all the city was filled with excitement. The people asked, “Who is this man?”

¹¹The crowd said, “This man is Jesus, the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Goes to the Temple

¹²Jesus went into the Temple and threw out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹³Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer.’ ⁿ But you are changing it into a ‘hideout for robbers.’ ” ⁿ

¹⁴The blind and crippled people came to Jesus in the Temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was doing wonderful things and that the children were praising him in the Temple, saying, “Praise ⁿ to the Son of David.” All these things made the priests and the teachers of the law very angry.

¹⁶They asked Jesus, “Do you hear the things these children are saying?”

Jesus answered, “Yes. Haven’t you read in the Scriptures, ‘You have taught children and babies to sing praises’?” ⁿ

¹⁷Then Jesus left and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

The Power of Faith

¹⁸Early the next morning, as Jesus was going back to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹Seeing a fig tree beside the road, Jesus went to it, but there were no figs on the tree, only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again have fruit.” The tree immediately dried up.

²⁰When his followers saw this, they were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”

²¹Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²²If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”