Matthew 21
The Stone the Builders Rejected
← Matthew 20 · Matthew: all chapters · Matthew 22 →
The Entry into Jerusalem
21:1When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
21:2saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me.
21:3If anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
21:4This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
21:5“Tell the daughter of Zion: ‘Behold, your King comes to you, meek and mounted upon a donkey, and upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
21:6The disciples went and did as Jesus directed them.
21:7They brought the donkey and the colt, placed the garments upon them, and He sat upon them.
21:8Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
21:9The crowds going before Him and those following cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the One coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
The Whole City Is Stirred
21:10When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?”
21:11The crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The Cleansing of the Temple
21:12Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
21:13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a robbers’ cave.”
21:14Blind and lame people came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
21:15But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonders He did and the children crying in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant
21:16and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing children You prepared praise’?”
21:17Leaving them, He went outside the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
The Withered Fig Tree
21:18In the morning, as He returned to the city, He became hungry.
21:19Seeing a fig tree beside the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone. He said to it, “Let no fruit ever come from you again.” Immediately the fig tree withered.
21:20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither immediately?”
21:21Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will do not only what was done to the fig tree; even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.
21:22Everything you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
21:23When He entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people approached Him as He taught, saying, “By what authority do You do these things? And who gave You this authority?”
21:24Jesus answered them, “I too will ask you one thing. If you tell Me, I too will tell you by what authority I do these things.
21:25John’s baptism—from where was it? From heaven or from human beings?” They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’
21:26But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ we fear the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.”
21:27They answered Jesus, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Children
21:28But what do you think? A man had two children. He came to the first and said, ‘Child, go work in the vineyard today.’
21:29He answered, ‘I do not want to,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.
21:30He came to the second and said the same. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go.
21:31Which of the two did the father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you that tax collectors and prostitutes go ahead of you into the kingdom of God.
21:32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
The Parable of the Vineyard Tenants
21:33Hear another parable. A householder planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. He leased it to farmers and traveled abroad.
21:34When the season of fruits drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers to receive his fruits.
21:35The farmers seized his slaves: one they beat, another they killed, another they stoned.
21:36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they did the same to them.
21:37Last he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
21:38But when the farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
21:39They seized him, cast him outside the vineyard, and killed him.
21:40So when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
21:41They said to Him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
21:42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected became the head of the corner; this came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
21:43Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
21:44And the one falling upon this stone will be shattered; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
The Chief Priests and Pharisees Seek to Seize Him
21:45When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they knew He was speaking about them.
21:46Although they sought to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they regarded Him as a prophet.
← Matthew 20 · Matthew: all chapters · Matthew 22 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.