Prophecy of the Captivity

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the ^(A)fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the ^(C)first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² the word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the ^(D)people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ³ “From the ^(E)thirteenth year of ^(F)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, ^[a]these ^(G)twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you ^(H)again and again, but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His ^(I)servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, ⁵ saying, ‘^(J)Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers ^(K)forever and ever; ⁶ and ^(L)do not follow other gods to ^[b]serve them and to ^[c]worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord, “in order to ^(M)provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, ⁹ behold, I will ^(N)send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(O)My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will ^[d]completely destroy them and ^(P)make them an object of horror and ^[e]hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will ^(Q)eliminate from them the voice of jubilation and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the ^(R)sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ^11 (S)This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for ^(T)seventy years.

Babylon Will Be Judged

¹² ‘Then it will be ^(U)when seventy years are completed I will ^(V)punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ^(W)I will make it an everlasting desolation. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in ^(X)this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ^(Y)all the nations. ¹⁴ (^[f]For ^(Z)many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will ^(AA)repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’”

¹⁵ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this ^(AB)cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it. ¹⁶ Then they will ^(AC)drink and loudly vomit and act insanely because of the sword that I am going to send among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and ^(AD)gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me, to drink from it: ¹⁸ To ^(AE)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them places of ruins, objects of horror, ^[g]hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ To ^(AF)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people; ²⁰ and to all the ^(AG)foreign ^[h]people, all the kings of the ^(AH)land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(AI)Philistines (that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(AJ)Ashdod); ²¹ To ^(AK)Edom, ^(AL)Moab, and the sons of ^(AM)Ammon; ²² and to all the kings of ^(AN)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of ^(AO)the coastlands which are beyond the sea; ²³ and to ^(AP)Dedan, Tema, ^(AQ)Buz, and all who ^(AR)trim the corners of their hair; ²⁴ and to all the kings of ^(AS)Arabia and all the kings of the ^(AT)foreign ^[i]people who live in the desert; ²⁵ and to all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(AU)Elam, and all the kings of ^(AV)Media; ²⁶ and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and ^(AW)all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; and the king of ^[j](AX)Sheshach shall drink it after them.

²⁷ “And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(AY)Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the ^(AZ)sword which I am sending among you.”’ ²⁸ And if they ^(BA)refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “^(BB)You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, I am ^(BC)beginning to inflict disaster on this city which is ^(BD)called by My name, so should you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for ^(BE)I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of armies.’

³⁰ “Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,

³³ “Those ^(BL)put to death by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the ^[m]other. They will ^(BM)not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like ^(BN)dung on the face of the ground.

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(A)And as they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and ^(B)Bethany, near ^(C)the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, ² and *said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³ And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he ^[a]will send it back here.” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. ⁵ And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them just as Jesus had said, and they gave them permission. ^7 (D)They *brought the colt to Jesus and *put their cloaks on it; and He sat on it. ⁸ And many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

^11 (G)And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple area; and after looking around at everything, ^(H)He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

^12 (I)On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

^15 (J)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[d]doves; ¹⁶ and He would not allow anyone to carry ^[e]merchandise through the temple grounds. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘^(K)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^(L)But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they ^(M)began seeking how to put Him to death; for they were afraid of Him, because all ^(N)the crowd was astonished at His teaching.

¹⁹ And ^(O)whenever evening came, ^[f]they would leave the city.

^20 (P)As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “^(Q)Rabbi, look, the fig tree that You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered and *said to them, “^(R)Have faith in God. ^23 (S)Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. ²⁴ Therefore, I say to you, ^(T)all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. ²⁵ And whenever you ^(U)stand praying, ^(V)forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you for your ^[g]offenses. ²⁶ [^[h](W)But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your ^[i]offenses.”]

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷ And they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(X)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the ^[j]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”