Matthew 21:1-22

Living Bible

21 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, and were near the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of them into the village ahead.

² “Just as you enter,” he said, “you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. ³ If anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, ‘The Master needs them,’ and there will be no trouble.”

⁴ This was done to fulfill the ancient prophecy, ⁵ “Tell Jerusalem her King is coming to her, riding humbly on a donkey’s colt!”

⁶ The two disciples did as Jesus said, ⁷ and brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt^[a] for him to ride on. ⁸ And some in the crowd threw down their coats along the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them out before him.

⁹ Then the crowds surged on ahead and pressed along behind, shouting, “God bless King David’s Son!” . . . “God’s Man is here!”^[b] . . . “Bless him, Lord!” . . . “Praise God in highest heaven!”

¹⁰ The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.

¹¹ And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee.”

¹² Jesus went into the Temple, drove out the merchants, and knocked over the money changers’ tables and the stalls of those selling doves.

¹³ “The Scriptures say my Temple is a place of prayer,” he declared, “but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

¹⁴ And now the blind and crippled came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and other Jewish leaders saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, “God bless the Son of David,” they were disturbed and indignant and asked him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

¹⁶ “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Didn’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘Even little babies shall praise him!’”

¹⁷ Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.

¹⁸ In the morning, as he was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry ¹⁹ and noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “Never bear fruit again!” And soon^[c] the fig tree withered up.

²⁰ The disciples were utterly amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹ Then Jesus told them, “Truly, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this Mount of Olives, ‘Move over into the ocean,’ and it will. ²² You can get anything—anything you ask for in prayer—if you believe.”