21 And when they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead,

² Saying to them, Go into the village that is opposite you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie [them] and bring [them] to Me.

³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall reply, The Lord needs them, and he will let them go without delay.

⁴ This happened that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

⁵ Say to the Daughter of Zion [inhabitants of Jerusalem], Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey [a beast of burden].^(A)

⁶ Then the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their coats upon them, and He seated Himself on them [the clothing].

⁸ And most of the crowd kept spreading their garments on the road, and others kept cutting branches from the trees and scattering them on the road.

⁹ And the crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed Him kept shouting, Hosanna (^[a]O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David, [^[b]the Messiah]! Blessed (praised, glorified) is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna (O be favorably disposed) in the highest [heaven]!^(B)

¹⁰ And when He entered Jerusalem, all the city became agitated and ^[c][trembling with excitement] said, Who is ^[d]This?

¹¹ And the crowds replied, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.

¹² And Jesus went into the temple (^[e]whole temple enclosure) and drove out all who bought and sold in the ^[f]sacred place, and He turned over the ^[g]four-footed tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold doves.

¹³ He said to them, The Scripture says, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.^(C)

¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to Him in the ^[h]porches and courts of the temple, and He cured them.

¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did and the boys and the girls and the ^[i]youths and the maidens crying out in the ^[j]porches and courts of the temple, Hosanna (O be propitious, graciously inclined) to the Son of David! they were indignant.

¹⁶ And they said to Him, Do You hear what these are saying? And Jesus replied to them, Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have made (provided) perfect praise?^(D)

¹⁷ And leaving them, He departed from the city and went out to Bethany and lodged there.

¹⁸ In the early dawn the next morning, as He was coming back to the city, He was hungry.

¹⁹ And as He saw ^[k]one single leafy fig tree ^[l]above the roadside, He went to it but He found nothing but leaves on it [^[m]seeing that in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. And He said to it, Never again shall fruit grow on you! And the fig tree withered up at once.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?

²¹ And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a ^[n]firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.

²² And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

²³ And when He entered the sacred ^[o]enclosure of the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, By what ^[p]power of authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this power of authority?

²⁴ Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question, and if you give Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what ^[q]power of authority I do these things.

²⁵ The baptism of John—from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned and argued with one another, If we say, From heaven, ^[r]He will ask us, Why then did you not believe him?

²⁶ But if we say, From men—we are afraid of and must reckon with the multitude, for they all regard John as a prophet.

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And He said to them, Neither will I tell you by what ^[s]power of authority I do these things.

²⁸ What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first and said, Son, go and work today in the vineyard.

²⁹ And he answered, I will not; but afterward he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ Then the man came to the second and said the same [thing]. And he replied, I will [go], sir; but he did not go.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father? They replied, The first one. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.

³² For John came to you walking in the way of an upright man in right standing with God, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots did believe him; and you, even when you saw that, did not afterward change your minds and believe him [adhere to, trust in, and rely on what he told you].

Read full chapter

18 Now Jethro [Reuel], the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after Moses had sent her back [to her father],

³ And her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom [ expulsion, or a stranger there], for Moses said, I have been an alien in a strange land;

⁴ And the name of the other was Eliezer [God is help], for the God of my father, said Moses, was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

⁵ And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to the wilderness where he was encamped at the mount of God [Horeb, or Sinai].

⁶ And he said [in a message] to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am come to you and your wife and her two sons with her.

⁷ And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed in homage and kissed him; and each asked the other of his welfare and they came into the tent.

⁸ Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and all the hardships that had come upon them by the way and how the Lord delivered them.

⁹ Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness the Lord had done to Israel in that He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰ Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, Who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, Who has delivered the people [Israel] from under the hand of the Egyptians.

¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods. Yes, in the [very] thing in which they dealt proudly [He showed Himself infinitely superior to all their gods].

¹² And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices [to offer] to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

¹³ Next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.

¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?

¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

¹⁶ When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws.

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good.

¹⁸ You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.

¹⁹ Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,

²⁰ Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do.

²¹ Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people—God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain—and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.

²² And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

²³ If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace.

²⁴ So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they decided themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.

19 In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai.

² When they had departed from Rephidim and had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, they encamped there before the mountain.

³ And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

⁴ You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

⁵ Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine.

⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.

⁷ So Moses called for the elders of the people and told them all these words which the Lord commanded him.

⁸ And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you and remain steadfast forever. Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, Go and sanctify the people [set them apart for God] today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes

¹¹ And be ready by the third day, for the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai [in the cloud] in the sight of all the people.

¹² And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, Take heed that you go not up into the mountain or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

¹³ No hand shall touch it [or the offender], but he shall surely be stoned or shot [with arrows]; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.^(A)

¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified them [set them apart for God], and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵ And he said to the people, Be ready by the day after tomorrow; do not go near a woman.

¹⁶ The third morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸ Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

¹⁹ As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice.^(B)

²⁰ The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze and many of them perish.

²² And also let the priests, who come near to the Lord, sanctify (set apart) themselves [for God], lest the Lord break forth against them.

²³ And Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You Yourself charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it [set it apart for God].

²⁴ Then the Lord said to him, Go, get down and you shall come up, you and Aaron with you; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break forth against them.

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.