Beginning

20 ¹ For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who is a house-master, who went out together-with early-morning to hire workers into his vineyard. ² And having made-an-agreement with the workers for a denarius^[a] for the day, he sent them out into his vineyard. ³ And having gone out around the third^[b] hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴ And to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever may be right’. ⁵ And the ones went. And again having gone out around the sixth and the ninth hour, he did similarly. ⁶ And having gone out around the eleventh^[c] hour, he found others standing there. And he says to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle the whole day? ⁷ They say to him, ‘Because no one hired us’. He says to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard’. ⁸ And having become evening, the master of the vineyard says to his manager^[d], ‘Call the workers, and pay them the wages— beginning from the last ones, up to the first ones’. ⁹ And having come, the ones hired around the eleventh hour received a denarius apiece. ¹⁰ And having come, the first ones thought that they would receive more. And they also themselves received the denarius apiece. ¹¹ And having received it, they were grumbling against the house-master, ¹² saying, ‘These last ones did one hour, and you made them equal to us— the ones having borne the burden of the day and the burning-heat’. ¹³ But the one, having responded, said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not wronging you. Did you not make-an-agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one as I also gave to you. ¹⁵ Or is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my things? Or is your eye^[e] evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶ Thus the last ones will be first, and the first ones, last”.

Jesus Predicts His Death And Resurrection For The Third Time

¹⁷ And while going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took aside the twelve disciples privately and said to them on the road, ¹⁸ “Behold— we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be handed-over to the chief priests and scribes. And they will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and will hand Him over to the Gentiles so that they might mock and whip and crucify Him. And He will be raised on the third day”.

Two Disciples Jockey For Position In The Kingdom. Jesus Says, It Is Not Mine To Give

²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons^[f], prostrating-herself and asking something from Him. ²¹ And the One said to her, “What do you want?” She says to Him, “Say that these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right side and one on Your left side in Your kingdom”. ²² But having responded, Jesus said, “You^[g] do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup which I am about to drink?” They say to Him, “We are able”. ²³ He says to them, “You will drink My cup— but the sitting on My right side and on the left side, this is not Mine to give, but it is for whom it has been prepared by My Father”.

Whoever Wants To Be First Shall Be Your Slave. Even I Came To Serve

²⁴ And having heard-of it, the ten were indignant about the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus, having summoned them, said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles are lording-over^[h] them, and the great ones are exercising-authority-over^[i] them. ²⁶ It shall not be so among you. But whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many”.

Two Blind Men Appeal To The Messiah For Their Sight, And Are Healed

²⁹ And while they were proceeding out from Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. ³⁰ And behold— two blind men sitting beside the road, having heard that Jesus was going by, cried-out saying, “Have-mercy-on us, Master, Son of David!” ³¹ But the crowd rebuked them in order that they might keep-silent. But the ones cried out louder, saying, “Have mercy on us, Master, Son of David!” ³² And having stopped, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³³ They say to Him, “Master— that our eyes might be opened!” ³⁴ And having felt-deep-feelings [of compassion], Jesus touched their eyes. And they immediately saw-again. And they followed Him.

The King Rides Into Jerusalem On a Donkey, As Predicted In Zechariah

21 And when they drew-near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent forth two disciples, ² saying to them, “Proceed to the village before you, and immediately you will find a donkey having been tied, and a colt with her. Having untied them, bring them to Me. ³ And if someone says something to you, you shall say that ‘The Lord has need of them’, and immediately he will send them forth”. ⁴ Now this has taken place in order that the thing might be fulfilled having been spoken through the prophet saying: ⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you— gentle, and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, a foal of a beast-of-burden’” [Zech 9:9]. ⁶ And the disciples— having proceeded, and having done just as Jesus directed them— ⁷ brought the donkey and the colt. And they put their cloaks on them. And He sat on them^[j]. ⁸ And most-of the crowd^[k] spread their cloaks in the road. And others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ And the crowds going ahead of Him, and the ones following Him, were crying out, saying, “Hosanna^[l] to the Son of David. Blessed is the One coming in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest [heavens]”.

The King Arrives In Jerusalem, And The Whole City Is Shaken

¹⁰ And He having entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken^[m], saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee”.

Jesus Cleanses The Temple And Accepts Praises From Boys. The Chief Priests Object

¹² And Jesus entered into the temple. And He threw-out all the ones selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers^[n] and the seats of the ones selling the doves^[o]. ¹³ And He says to them, “It has been written [in Isa 56:7]: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. But you are making it a den of robbers^[p]”. ¹⁴ And blind ones and lame ones came to Him in the temple, and He cured them. ¹⁵ But the chief priests and the scribes— having seen the marvelous things which He did, and the boys^[q] crying-out in the temple and saying “Hosanna to the Son of David”— were indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these boys are saying?” And Jesus says to them, “Yes— did you never read [in Ps 8:2] that ‘You prepared-Yourself praise out of the mouth^[r] of children and nursing ones’?” ¹⁷ And having left them behind, He went outside of the city to Bethany and spent-the-night there.

Jesus Curses a Fruitless Fig Tree

¹⁸ Now early-in-the-morning while returning to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹ And having seen one fig tree near the road, He went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only^[s]. And He says to it, “May fruit no longer come from you— forever”. And the fig tree was dried-up at-once. ²⁰ And having seen it, the disciples marveled, saying, “How was the fig tree dried up at once?” ²¹ And having responded, Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you— if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do the thing of the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and be thrown into the sea’, it will be done. ²² And you will receive all that you ask in prayer, believing”.

The Priests Ask, By What Authority Do You Do This?

²³ And He having come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came-to Him while He was teaching, saying, “By what-kind-of ^[t] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ And having responded, Jesus said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I also will tell you by what-kind-of authority I am doing these things— ²⁵ From where was the baptism of John, from heaven or from humans?” And the ones were discussing among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, He will say to us, ‘Then for what reason did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From humans’, we fear the crowd. For they all are holding John as a prophet”. ²⁷ And having responded to Jesus, they said, “We do not know”. He also said to them, “Nor am I telling you by what-kind-of authority I am doing these things.

One Son Feigns Obedience, One Disobeys But Repents. Which Did The Father’s Will?

²⁸ “But what seems right to you?— A man had two children. And having gone to the first he said, ‘Child, go, work today in the vineyard’. ²⁹ And the one, having responded, said, ‘I will not’. But having regretted^[u] it later, he went. ³⁰ And having gone to the other, he spoke similarly. And the one, having responded, said, ‘I will, sir’, and he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say, “The first”.

You Priests Feign Obedience To God, But Did Not Believe John, God’s Messenger

Jesus says to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going-ahead-of you into the kingdom of God. ³² For John came to you in^[v] the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And you, having seen it, did not-even regret it later, that you might believe him.

You Priests Are Like Farmers Who Killed The Owner’s Messengers And Son

³³ “Listen-to another parable. There was a man who was a house-master, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he rented it to farmers and went-on-a-journey. ³⁴ And when the time of the fruits drew-near, he sent forth his slaves to the farmers to receive his fruits. ³⁵ And the farmers, having taken his slaves, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent-forth other slaves— more than the first. And they did similarly to them. ³⁷ But finally he sent forth his son to them, saying, ‘They will have-regard-for my son’. ³⁸ But the farmers, having seen the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and let us have his inheritance’. ³⁹ And having taken him, they threw him outside of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” ⁴¹ They say to Him, “He will miserably destroy the miserable ones themselves! And he will rent the vineyard to other farmers who will give-back the fruits to him in their seasons”.

The Kingdom Will Be Taken Away Because You Rejected God’s Cornerstone

⁴² Jesus says to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the ones building rejected, this became the head^[w] of the corner. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? [Ps 118:22-23]. ⁴³ For this reason^[x] I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken-away from you, and will be given to a nation^[y] producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And the one having fallen upon this stone will be broken-to-pieces^[z]. And upon whomever it may fall, it will crush^[aa] him”.

When The Invited Refuse To Attend The Wedding of The King’s Son, They Are Destroyed

⁴⁵ And having heard His parables, the chief priests and the Pharisees knew that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And while seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were holding Him for a prophet.