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they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say to them, ‘The Lord has need of them’, and he will send them straight away.”
4 This took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’.”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the crowds that went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, asking, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 Jesus went into the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling around the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written: ‘My House shall be called a house of prayer’, but you are making it a ‘den of thieves’.”
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these are saying?” they asked Jesus.
“Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read:
‘From the mouths of children and nursing infants
You have ordained praise’?”
17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
18 Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, He went over to it and found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And immediately the fig tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth, if 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 lifted up and thrown into the sea’, it will be done. 22 And whatever you ask for in prayer you will receive, if you have faith.”
23 When Jesus entered the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you give Me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from? Was it from heaven, or was it from men?”
They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, He will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men’, we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today’.
29 “He answered, ‘I will not’, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the second son and said the same thing.
“He answered, ‘I will go, sir’, but he did not go.
31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes enter the Kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even after you saw this, you did not then change your minds and believe him.
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased out the vineyard to some farmers and went away. 34 When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “But the tenants seized his servants and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants to them, more than the first time; and the tenants did the same to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son’, he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance’. 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will put those wretches to a miserable death,” they told him, “and he will rent out the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at the harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone who falls on it will be crushed.
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they knew He was speaking about them. 46 Although they were looking for a way to arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded Him as a prophet.