1 When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Hill of Olives, then Jesus despatched two disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go to the village in front of you and you will at once find an ass tethered with a colt alongside of her; untether them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you will say that the Lord needs them; then he will at once let them go."
5 Tell the daughter of Sion, 'Here is your king coming to you, He is gentle and mounted on an ass, And on a colt the foal of a beast of burden.'
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus told them;
7 they brought the ass and the colt and put their clothes on them. Jesus seated himself on them,
8 and the greater part of the crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road.
9 And the crowds who went in front of him and who followed behind shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name! Hosanna in high heaven!"
10 When he entered Jerusalem the whole city was in excitement over him. "Who is this?" they said,
11 and the crowds replied, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazaret in Galilee!"
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all who were buying and selling inside the temple; he upset the tables of the money-changers and the stalls of those who sold doves,
13 and told them, "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers."
14 Blind and lame people came up to him in the temple and he healed them.
15 But when the high priests and scribes saw his wonderful deeds and saw the children who shouted in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant;
16 they said to him, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Yes," said Jesus, "have you never read Thou hast brought praise to perfection from the mouth of babes and sucklings?"
18 In the morning as he came back to the city he felt hungry,
19 and noticing a fig tree by the roadside he went up to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you after this!" And instantly the fig tree withered up.
20 When the disciples saw this they marvelled. "How did the fig tree wither up in an instant?" they said.
21 Jesus answered, "I tell you truly, if you have faith, if you have no doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree but even if you say to this hill, 'Take and throw yourself into the sea,' it will be done.
22 All that ever you ask in prayer you shall have, if you believe."
23 When he entered the temple, the high priests and elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "What authority have you for acting in this way? Who gave you this authority?"
24 Jesus replied, "Well, I will ask you a question, and if you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have for acting as I do.
25 Where did the baptism of John come from? From heaven or from men?" Now they argued to themselves, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'
26 And 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 do not know." He said to them, "No more will I tell you what authority I have for acting as I do.
28 Tell me what you think. A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard to-day';
29 he replied, 'I will go, sir,' but he did not go.
30 The man went to the second and said the same to him; he replied, 'I will not,' but afterwards he changed his mind and did go.
31 Which of the two did the will of the father?" They said, "The last." Jesus said to them, "I tell you truly, the taxgatherers and harlots are going into the Realm of God before you.
32 For John showed you the way to be good and you would not believe him; the taxgatherers and harlots believed him, and even though you saw that, you would not change your mind afterwards and believe him.
33 Listen to another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a wine-vat inside it, and built a watchtower: then he leased it to vinedressers and went abroad.
34 When the fruit-season was near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to collect his fruit;
35 but the vinedressers took his servants and flogged one, killed another, and stoned a third.
36 Once more he sent some other servants, more than he had sent at first, and they did the same to them.
37 Afterwards he sent them his son; 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38 But when the vinedressers saw his son they said to themselves, 'Here is the heir; come on, let us kill him and seize his inheritance!'
39 So they took and threw him outside the vineyard and killed him.
40 Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these vinedressers?"
41 They replied, "He will utterly destroy the wretches and lease the vineyard to other vinedressers who will give him the fruits in their season."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected is the chief stone now of the corner: this is the doing of the Lord, and a wonder to our eyes?