Matthew:21

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* When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives , Jesus sent two disciples on ahead and * said to them ,“Go into the village ahead of you . At once you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it . Untie them , and bring them to me . * If anyone says anything to you , tell him , ‘The Lord needs them ,’ and that person will send them at once .” * Now this happened to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet when he said , * “Tell the daughter of Zion ,‘Look , your king is coming to you ! He is humble and mounted on a donkey ,even on a colt of a donkey .’” * So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them . * They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them , and he sat upon them . * Many people in the crowd spread their own coats on the road , while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road . * Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting , “Hosanna to the Son of David ! How blessed is the one who comesin the name of the Lord ! Hosanna in the highest heaven !” * When he came into Jerusalem , the whole city was trembling with excitement . The people were asking , “Who is this ?” * The crowds kept saying , “This is the prophet Jesus , the man from Nazareth in Galilee .” * Then Jesus went into the temple , threw out all who were selling and buying in the temple , and overturned the moneychangers ’ tables and the chairs of those who sold doves . * He told them ,“It is written , ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer ,’but you are turning it into a hideoutfor bandits !” * Blind and lame people came to him in the temple , and he healed them . * But when the high priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he had done and the children shouting in the temple , “Hosanna to the Son of David ,” they became furious * and asked him , “Do you hear what these people are saying ?”Jesus said to them ,“Yes ! Haven 't you ever read , ‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have created praise ’?” * Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there . * In the morning , as Jesus was returning to the city , he became hungry . * Seeing a fig tree by the roadside , he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves . He said to it ,“May fruit never come from you again !” And immediately the fig tree dried up . * When the disciples saw this , they were amazed and said , “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly ?” * Jesus answered them ,“Truly I tell you , if you have faith and do not doubt , not only will you be able to do what has been done to the fig tree , but you will also say to this mountain , ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea ,’ and it will happen . * You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer , if you believe .” * Then Jesus went into the temple . While he was teaching , the high priests and the elders of the people came to him and asked , “By what authority are you doing these things , and who gave you this authority ?” * Jesus answered them ,“I , too , will ask you one question .If you answer it for me , I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things . * Where did John 's authority to baptizecome from ? From heaven or from humans ?”They began discussing this among themselves , saying , “If we say , ‘From heaven ,’ he will say to us , ‘Then why didn 't you believe him ?’ * But if we say , ‘From humans ,’ we are afraid of the crowd , for all regard John as a prophet .” * So they said to Jesus , “We don 't know .”He in turn told them ,“Then I won 't tell you by what authority I am doing these things .” * “But what do you think ? A man had two sons . He went to the first and said , ‘Son , go and work in the vineyard today .’ * His sonreplied , ‘I don 't want to ,’ but later he changed his mind and went . * Then the fatherwent to the other sonand told him the same thing . He replied , ‘I will ,sir ,’ but he didn 't go . * Which of the two did the father 's will ?”They answered , “The first .”Jesus said to them ,“Truly I tell you , tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God 's kingdom ahead of you . * For John came to you in the way of righteousness , but you didn 't believe him . The tax collectors and prostitutes believed him . But even when you saw that , you didn 't change your mindsat last and believe him .” * “Listen to another parable . There was a landowner who planted a vineyard , put a wall around it , dug a wine press in it , and built a watchtower . Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad . * When harvest time approached , he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his produce . * But the farmers took his servants and beat one , killed another , and attacked another with stones . * Again , he sent other servants to them , a greater number than the first , but the tenant farmerstreated them the same way . * Finally , he sent his son to them , thinking , ‘They will respect my son .’ * But when the tenant farmers saw his son , they said to one another , ‘This is the heir . Come on , let 's kill him and get his inheritance !’ * So they grabbed him , threw him out of the vineyard , and killed him . * Now when the owner of the vineyard returns , what will he do to those farmers ?” * They said to him , “He will put those horrible men to a horrible death . Then he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at harvest time .” * Jesus said to them ,“Have you never read in the Scriptures ,‘The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone . This was the Lord 's doing ,and it is amazing in our eyes ’? * That is why I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce fruit for it . * The person who falls over this stone will be broken to pieces , but it will crush anyone on whom it falls .” * When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his parables , they knew that he was talking about them . * Although they wanted to arrest him , they were afraid of the crowds , for they considered him a prophet .

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