Mark 11:15–33

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹⁵Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, ¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?

But you have made it a den of robbers.”^*

¹⁸And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him, for they were afraid of him because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.^{* 19}And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples^s went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.^{* 21}Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”^{* 22}Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.^{t* 23}Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.^{* 24}So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received^u it, and it will be yours.^*

²⁵“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”^v*

Jesus’s Authority Is Questioned

²⁷Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him ²⁸and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” ³¹They argued with one another, “What should we say?^w If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet.^{* 33}So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”