^14 (A)And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; ¹⁶ and to those who were selling ^(B)the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making ^(C)My Father’s house a ^[a]place of business.”

Cleansing the Temple

^12 (A)And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the ^(B)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(C)doves. ¹³ And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘^(D)My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^(E)robbers’ ^[a]den.”

¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and ^(F)He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things which He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the ^(G)Son of David,” they became indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘^(H)Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” ¹⁷ And He left them and went out of the city to ^(I)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18 (J)Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a lone ^(K)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.

²⁰ And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(L)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 ^(M)all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^23 (N)And when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(O)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[b]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 crowd; for they all regard John as ^(P)a prophet.” ²⁷ And they answered Jesus and 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 ^(Q)vineyard.’ ²⁹ And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘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 ^(R)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[c]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 ^(S)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Vine-Growers

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(T)There was a ^[d]landowner who ^(U)planted a ^(V)vineyard and put a ^[e]wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[f]vine-growers and ^(W)went on a journey. ³⁴ Now when the ^[g]harvest time approached, he ^(X)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Again he ^(Y)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 And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the ^[h]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and ^(Z)will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ And ^(AB)he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He *was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they were seeking to seize Him, they ^(AC)feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a ^(AD)prophet.

Jesus Drives Merchants from the Temple

^15 (A)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[a]doves;

¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘^(A)My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^(B)But you have made it a robbers’ ^[a]den.”

Jesus Drives Merchants from the Temple

^45 (A)And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written, ‘^(B)And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ ^(C)but you have made it a robbers’ ^[a]den.”

⁴⁷ And ^(D)He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people ^(E)were trying to destroy Him, ⁴⁸ and they could not find ^[b]anything that they might do, for all the people hung upon ^[c]every word He said.

The Messenger and the Lord

3 “^(A)Behold, I am going to send ^(B)My ^[a]messenger, and he will ^[b](C)prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; ^[c]and the ^[d](D)messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says Yahweh of hosts. ² “But who can ^(E)endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^(F)smelter’s fire and like ^[e]fullers’ soap. ³ And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^(G)purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^(H)present to Yahweh ^[f]offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then the ^[g]offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^(I)pleasing to Yahweh as in the ^(J)ancient days and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^(K)sorcerers and against the ^(L)adulterers and against those who ^(M)swear falsely and against those who oppress the ^(N)wage earner in his wages, the ^(O)widow and the ^[h]orphan, and those who turn aside the ^(P)sojourner and do not ^[i]fear Me,” says Yahweh of hosts. ⁶ “For ^[j]I, Yahweh, ^(Q)do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, ^[k]are not consumed.

You Have Robbed God

⁷ “From the ^(R)days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. ^(S)Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

⁸ “Will a man ^[l]rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^(T)tithes and ^[m]contributions. ⁹ You are ^(U)cursed with a curse, for you are ^[n]robbing Me, the whole nation of you! ^10 (V)Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be ^[o]food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not ^(W)open for you the windows of heaven and ^(X)empty out for you a blessing until ^[p](Y)it is beyond enough. ¹¹ Then I will rebuke the ^(Z)devourer for you so that it will not corrupt the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field ^[q]fail to bear,” says Yahweh of hosts. ¹² “^(AA)So all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a ^(AB)delightful land,” says Yahweh of hosts.

Arrogant Words

¹³ “Your words have been strong against Me,” says Yahweh. “But you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is ^(AC)worthless to serve God; and what ^(AD)gain is it that we have kept His charge and that we have walked in mourning before Yahweh of hosts? ¹⁵ So now we ^(AE)call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also test God and ^(AF)escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who ^[r]feared Yahweh spoke to one another, and Yahweh ^(AG)gave heed and heard it, and a ^(AH)book of remembrance was written before Him for those who ^[s]fear Yahweh and who think upon His name. ¹⁷ “And they will be ^(AI)Mine,” says Yahweh of hosts, “on the ^(AJ)day that I ^[t]prepare My ^[u](AK)own treasured possession, and I will ^[v]spare them as a man ^[w](AL)spares his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ So you will return and ^(AM)see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.