Montgomery - Matthew - 21

21:1  And when they approached Jerusalem, and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them.

21:2  "Go on into the village facing you, and at once you will find an ass tied, and her colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me.

21:3  "And if any one says anything to you, tell him, ‘The Master needs them,’ and he will send them without delay."

21:4  This happened in fulfilment of the word spoken though the prophet.

21:5  Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold thy King cometh to thee, Gentle and sitting upon an ass, And upon a colt, the fool of a beast of burden."

21:6  So the disciples went and did as Jesus told them;

21:7  they led back the ass and her colt, and placed their cloaks on them.

21:8  Then Jesus seated himself upon them, and most of the crowd kept spreading their cloaks on the road, and others began cutting branches off the trees, and spreading them in the road.

21:9  And the crowds who preceded and those who followed after him shouted again and again, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed be he who is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

21:10  And as he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred. "Who is this?" they said.

21:11  And the crowds answered, "This is the Prophet Jesus, from Nazareth, in Galilee."

21:12  Then Jesus entered into the Temple courts, and cast out all who were buying and selling there, and overturned the tables of the money- changers, and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

21:13  "It is written," he said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves."

21:14  Then the blind and the lame came to him in the Temple courts, and he healed them.

21:15  But when the chief priests and the Scribes saw the wonderful works he did, and the boys who were shouting in the Temple Courts and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!"

21:16  they asked him, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Surely," said Jesus, "and have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"

21:17  So he left them and went outside the city, to Bethany, and spent the night there.

21:18  At dawn, when he was on his way back into the city, he was hungry;

21:19  and when he saw a solitary fig tree beside the road, he went to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it, "Let no man gather fruit from you forever." And at once the fig tree withered away.

21:20  When his disciples saw this, they were astonished. "How instantaneously," they said, "the fig tree withered!"

21:21  In reply Jesus said to them, "In solemn truth I tell you that if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Up, cast yourself into the sea!’ it shall be done;

21:22  "and everything that you ask for in your prayers you shall have, if you believe."

21:23  When he had entered the Temple courts, and was teaching, the high priests and elders of the people came to him and asked him, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

21:24  Jesus answered. "I also will put a question to you, which, if you tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

21:25  John’s baptism, whence was it, from heaven or from man?" So they began debating about it among themselves.

21:26  "If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all regard Johnas a prophet."

21:27  So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." He said to them, "Nor am I going to tell you in what authority I do these deeds.

21:28  "But give me your judgment. There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said to him, "‘Son, go work today in my vineyard!’

21:29  "‘I will go, sir,’ he answered; yet he did not go.

21:30  "Then he went to the second, and said the same thing to him. "‘I will not,’ he answered; but afterward he changed his mind and went.

21:31  "Which of these two did the will of his father?" "The last," they replied. "I tell you truly," said Jesus, "that the tax-gatherers and harlots are going into the kingdom of heaven before you!

21:32  "For Johncame to you in the road of righteousness, and you did not give credence to him; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots gave credence to him. But you, although you saw this, did not even then change your minds and give credence to him.

21:33  "Listen to another parable. "A man who was a householder planted a vineyard, fenced it about, dug a wine vat in it, built a tower, then rented it to vine-dressers and went abroad.

21:35  "And the vine-dressers seized his slaves, flogged one, killed another, and stoned a third.

21:36  "Again he sent other slaves, a larger number than at first, and they treated them in the same way.

21:37  "And last he sent his son to them; ‘Surely they will respect my son,’ he said.

21:38  "But when the vine-dressers saw his son, they said to themselves. "‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance.’

21:39  "So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

21:40  "When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers?"

21:41  "He will utterly destroy those wretches," they answered, "and will entrust his vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will pay back the fruits to him in their season."

21:42  "Have you never read in the Scriptures," Jesus answered, "how The stone that the builders rejected Has been made the corner-stone; This is the Lord’s doing, It is wonderful in our eyes?

21:43  "I tell you that for this reason the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation that does produce the fruit of it.

21:44  "He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but he upon whom it falls will be scattered as dust."

21:45  As they listened to his parables, the chief priests and the Pharisees recognized that he was speaking about them;

21:46  but although they longed to apprehend him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.