wither because it didn’t have any fruit (Mark 11:12–24). The meaning becomes clear in the next two chapters of Mark if we bear in mind that “the mountain of the Lord” is a metaphor for the temple. It is used in this way about two dozen times in the Old Testament (e.g., Isa 2:2–3; 11:9; 40:4, 9; 56:7). Jesus cited one of those verses just before he threw out the money-changers: “my holy mountain … my house will be called a house of prayer” (Isa 56:7 = Mark 11:17). Mark 11 and 12 chart the growing