1 Then He went into Jericho and was passing through it. 2 Here there was a man named Zaccheus, who was tax-commissioner of the district, and he was a rich man too. 3 Now he was trying to see Jesus to find out who He was, but he could not because of the crowd, as he was so small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a mulberry tree, just to get a glimpse of Him, for Jesus was coming through on that street. 5 And as Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, come down quickly! for today I must stop at your house."
6 So in haste he came down, and with gladness welcomed Him. 7 And when they all saw it, they began to grumble and say, "He has gone in to lodge with a notorious sinner!"
8 Then Zaccheus got up and said to the Lord, "Listen, Lord! I now give to the poor half of my property, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay him back four times as much."
9 Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this home, for he too is a real descendant of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the people that are lost."
11 As they were listening to these things, He told them another story, because He was near Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.
12 So He said: "Once upon a time a man of noble birth went off to a distant country to get for himself a kingdom and then return. 13 He called in ten of his slaves and gave them twenty dollars apiece and told them to do business with his money while he was gone.
14 But his citizens continued to hate him, and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We do not want this man to become king over us.'
15 Then after he had gotten the appointment as king, he returned and ordered those slaves to whom he had given his money to be called in, that he might find out what business they had done. 16 Now the first one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made two hundred more.'
17 So he said to him, 'Well done, my good slave! Because you have proven dependable in a very small business, be governor of ten cities!'
18 The second one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made a hundred!'
19 So he said to him too, 'Be governor of five cities?
20 But another one came in and said, 'Here is your twenty dollars, sir, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. 21 For I lived in constant dread of you, because you are a stern man, you pick up what you did not put down, you reap what you did not sow.'
22 He said to him, 'On the ground of what you say I will sentence you, you wicked slave! You knew that I was a stern man, that I picked up what I did not put down, and reaped what I did not sow. 23 So why did you not put my money into the bank? In that case, when I came back I could have gotten interest on my principal.' 24 So he said to the bystanders, 'Take the twenty dollars away from him and give it to the man who has the two hundred.'
25 And they said, 'Sir, he has two hundred already.'
26 'I tell you, the man who gets will have more given to him, but the man who does not get will have even what he has taken away from him! 27 But bring those enemies of mine here who did not want me to become king over them and slay them in my presence!'"
28 After saying these things, He went on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem. 29 When He approached Bethphage and Bethany by the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent on two of His disciples, and 30 said, "Go on to the village in front of you, in which, just as you enter, you will find a colt tied, which no man has ever yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. 31 And if anyone asks you why you are untying it, you are to answer, 'The Lord needs it.'"
32 So off the two messengers went and found it just as He had told them. 33 And while they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34 And they answered, "The Lord needs it." 35 So they brought it to Jesus. 36 Then they threw their coats upon it and mounted Jesus upon it. As He was going on, the people continued to spread their coats under Him on the road. 37 Just as He was approaching the city, going down the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of the disciples began to praise God exultantly and loudly for all the wonder-works that they had seen,
38 and said: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and praise on high!"
39 Then some Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, reprove your disciples."
40 But He answered, "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!"
41 As He approached it, just as soon as He saw the city, He burst into tears over it, 42 and said: "If today you yourself had only known the conditions of peace! But now they are hidden from you. 43 For a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up earthworks around you and surround you and hem you in on all sides, 44 and they will throw you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know when God visited you."
45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things in it, 46 and He said to them, "The Scripture says, 'And my house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a cave for robbers."
47 So He was teaching daily in the temple, and the high priests and the scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 but they could not find, as hard as they tried, what to do with Him, for all the people continued to hang on His words.