Matthew 20-21 (New American Standard Bible)

Matthew 20

Laborers in the Vineyard

 ¹"For ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^(B)vineyard.

 ²"When he had agreed with the laborers for a ^[a]denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

 ³"And he went out about the ^[b]third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;

 ⁴and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went.

 ⁵"Again he went out about the ^[c]sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.

 ⁶"And about the ^[d]eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?'

 ⁷"They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

 ⁸"When ^(C)evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his ^(D)foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.'

 ⁹"When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a ^[e]denarius.

 ¹⁰"When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.

 ¹¹"When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

 ¹²saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the ^(E)scorching heat of the day.'

 ¹³"But he answered and said to one of them, '^(F)Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

 ¹⁴'Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

 ¹⁵'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your ^(G)eye envious because I am generous?'

 ¹⁶"So ^(H)the last shall be first, and the first last."

Death, Resurrection Foretold

 ^17(I)As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them,

 ¹⁸"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man ^(J)will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,

 ¹⁹and ^(K)will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on ^(L)the third day He will be raised up."

Preferment Asked

 ^20(M)Then the mother of ^(N)the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, ^(O)bowing down and making a request of Him.

 ²¹And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine ^(P)may sit one on Your right and one on Your left."

 ²²But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(Q)to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able."

 ²³He said to them, "^(R)My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, ^(S)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(T)prepared by My Father."

 ²⁴And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.

 ^25(U)But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

 ²⁶"It is not this way among you, ^(V)but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

 ²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

 ²⁸just as ^(W)the Son of Man ^(X)did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Sight for the Blind

 ^29(Y)As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

 ³⁰And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, ^(Z)have mercy on us, ^(AA)Son of David!"

 ³¹The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, ^(AB)Son of David, have mercy on us!"

 ³²And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"

 ³³They said to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."

 ³⁴Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

Matthew 21

The Triumphal Entry

 ^1(AC)When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at ^(AD)the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

 ²saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.

 ³"If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."

 ^4(AE)This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
    ⁵"^(AF)SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,
         'BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,
         GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,
         EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'"

 ⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,

 ⁷and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats.

 ⁸Most of the crowd ^(AG)spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.

 ⁹The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
         "Hosanna to the ^(AH)Son of David;
         ^(AI)BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
         Hosanna ^(AJ)in the highest!"

 ¹⁰When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?"

 ¹¹And the crowds were saying, "This is ^(AK)the prophet Jesus, from ^(AL)Nazareth in Galilee."

Cleansing the Temple

 ^12(AM)And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the ^(AN)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(AO)doves.

 ¹³And He said to them, "It is written, '^(AP)MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ^(AQ)ROBBERS' DEN."

 ¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and ^(AR)He healed them.

 ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the ^(AS)Son of David," they became indignant

 ¹⁶and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, '^(AT)OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"

 ¹⁷And He left them and went out of the city to ^(AU)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

 ^18(AV)Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

 ¹⁹Seeing a lone ^(AW)fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

 ²⁰Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

 ²¹And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, ^(AX)if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.

 ²²"And ^(AY)all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Authority Challenged

 ^23(AZ)When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(BA)while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

 ²⁴Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

 ²⁵"The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?'

 ²⁶"But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as ^(BB)a prophet."

 ²⁷And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

 ²⁸"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the ^(BC)vineyard.'

 ²⁹"And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.

 ³⁰"The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go.

 ³¹"Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that ^(BD)the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.

 ³²"For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(BE)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

 ³³"Listen to another parable. ^(BF)There was a landowner who ^(BG)PLANTED A ^(BH)VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and ^(BI)went on a journey.

 ³⁴"When the harvest time approached, he ^(BJ)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.

 ³⁵"The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

 ³⁶"Again he ^(BK)sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

 ³⁷"But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

 ³⁸"But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'

 ³⁹"They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 ⁴⁰"Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"

 ⁴¹They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and ^(BL)will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."

 ⁴²Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures,
         '^(BM)THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
         THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone;
         THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
         AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?

 ⁴³"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.

 ⁴⁴"And ^(BN)he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

 ⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

 ⁴⁶When they sought to seize Him, they ^(BO)feared the people, because they considered Him to be a ^(BP)prophet.