1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent off two disciples,
2 telling them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and right away you will find a donkey tied up, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them immediately."
4 All this happened so that the word spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Look, your King comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them.
7 They led the donkey and the colt, laid their cloaks on them, and set him on them.
8 Most of the crowd spread out their own cloaks on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
9 The crowds going ahead of him and those following kept shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, and people asked, "Who is this?"
11 The crowds answered, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Jesus went into the temple of God and threw out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he turned over the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers.
13 He told them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer'; but you have turned it into a hideout for robbers."
14 Blind and lame people came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvels he had done, and the children shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant,
16 and said to him, "Do you hear what they are saying?" Jesus answered them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'From the mouths of little children and nursing infants you have brought praise to completion'?"
17 Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and he spent the night there.
18 Early in the morning, as he was going back into the city, he became hungry.
19 Seeing a single fig tree beside the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves; and he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again." And instantly the fig tree dried up.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, "How is it that the fig tree dried up at once?"
21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will come about.
22 And everything you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive."
23 After he had come into the temple, as he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him and said, "By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?"
24 Jesus answered them, "I too will ask you one question; if you answer me, I in turn will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 John's baptism, where did it come from? From heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'
26 But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the crowd, since they all regard John as a prophet."
27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." He in turn said to them, "Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.
28 "But how does it seem to you? A man had two children. He went to the first and said, 'Child, go work in my vineyard today.'
29 He answered, 'I do not want to'; but later he changed his mind and went.
30 He went to the other and said the same thing. That one answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did what his father wanted?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and you, even after seeing this, did not change your minds later and believe him.
33 "Listen to another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower; then he rented it out to tenant farmers and went abroad.
34 When harvest time came near, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.
35 But the tenant farmers seized his servants; one they beat, another they killed, another they stoned.
36 Once more he sent other servants, a larger number than the first, and they treated them the same way.
37 Last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will show respect for my son.'
38 But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.'
39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?"
41 They told him, "He will put those wretches to a wretched death, and he will rent out the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it is due."
42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone that the builders discarded, this has become the head of the corner; this came about from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?
43 That is why I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that produces its fruit.
44 And the one who falls on this stone will be shattered; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him to powder."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was talking about them.
46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.