Mark 11:15-12:12

English Standard Version

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15 (A)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(B)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(C)pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(D)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(E)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(F)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(G)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19 (H)And when evening came they^[a] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

^20 (I)As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, ^(J)“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have ^(K)faith in God. ^23 (L)Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^(M)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ^(N)doubt in his heart, but ^(O)believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(P)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(Q)believe that you ^(R)have received^[b] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(S)you stand praying, ^(T)forgive, ^(U)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(V)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[c]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (W)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(X)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(Y)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(Z)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(AA)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(AB)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(AC)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(AD)a vineyard ^(AE)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(AF)leased it to tenants and ^(AG)went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant^[d] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ^3 (AH)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (AI)Again ^(AJ)he sent to them another servant, and ^(AK)they struck him on the head and ^(AL)treated him shamefully. ^5 (AM)And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶ He had still one other, ^(AN)a beloved son. ^(AO)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(AP)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(AQ)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(AR)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(AS)He will ^(AT)come and destroy the tenants and ^(AU)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (AV)Have you not read ^(AW)this Scripture:

¹² And ^(AY)they were seeking to arrest him ^(AZ)but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^(BA)left him and went away.