The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Matthew 21
1 When they came near to Jerusalem
and came to Bethsphage,† to the Mount of
Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village that
is opposite you, and immediately 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, you
shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’
and immediately he will send them.”
4 All this was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken through the
prophet, saying,
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
behold, your King comes to you,
humble, and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”*
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus
commanded them,
7 and brought the donkey and the colt
and laid their clothes on them; and he sat
on them.
8 A very great multitude spread their
clothes on the road. Others cut branches
from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The multitudes who went in front 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 he had come into Jerusalem, all
the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is
this?”
11 The multitudes said, “This is the
prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered into the temple of God
and drove out all of those who sold and
bought in the temple, and overthrew the
money changers’ tables and the seats of
those who sold the doves.
13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My
house shall be called a house of prayer,’*
but you have made it a den of robbers!”*
14 The lame and the blind came to him in
the temple, and he healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the
scribes saw the wonderful things that he
did, and the children who were crying in
the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son
of David!” they were indignant,
16 and said to him, “Do you hear what
these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you
never read, ‘Out of the mouth of children
and nursing babies, you have perfected praise’?”*
17 He left them and went out ofthe city to
Bethany, and camped there.
18 Now in the morning, as he returned to
the city, he was hungry.
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came
to it and found nothing on it but leaves. He
said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you
forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled,
saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?”
21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly
I tell you, if you have faith and don’t doubt,
you will not only do what was done to the
fig tree, but even if you told this mountain,
‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.
22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer,
believing, you will receive.”
23 When he had come into the temple,the
chief priests and the elders of the people
came to him as he was teaching, and said,
“By what authority do you do these things?
Who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask
you one question, which if you tell me, I
likewise willtell you by what authority I do
these things.
25 The baptism of John, where was it
from? From heaven or from men?”
They reasoned with themselves, saying,
“If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us,
‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the
multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”
27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We
don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell
you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what do you think? A man had
two sons, and he came to the first, and said,
‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
29 He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward
he changed his mind, and went.
30 He came to the second, and said the
same thing. He answered, ‘I’m going, sir,’
but he didn’t go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his
father?” They said to him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell
you that the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom
before you.
32 For John came to you in the way of
righteousness, and you didn’t believe him;
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes
believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t
even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a
man who was a master of a household who
planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it,
dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased
it out to farmers, and went into another country.
34 When the season for the fruit came
near, he sent his servants to the farmers to
receive his fruit.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat
one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more
than the first; and they treated them the
same way.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son,
saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But the farmers, when they saw the
son, 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, then killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard
comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They told him, “He will miserably destroy
those miserable men, and will lease
out the vineyard to other farmers who will
give him the fruit in its season.”
42 Jesus saidto them, “Didyounever read
in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected
was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes’?*
43 “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom
will be taken away from you and will be
given to a nation producing its fruit.
44 He who falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall,
it will scatter him as dust.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they perceived
that he spoke about them.
46 When they sought to seize him, they
feared the multitudes, because they
considered him to be a prophet.