Read the Gospels in 40 Days

19 Yeshua entered Yericho and was passing through, ² when a man named Zakkai appeared who was a chief tax-collector and a wealthy man. ³ He was trying to see who Yeshua was; but, being short, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed a fig tree in order to see him, for Yeshua was about to pass that way. ⁵ When he came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zakkai! Hurry! Come down, because I have to stay at your house today!” ⁶ He climbed down as fast as he could and welcomed Yeshua joyfully. ⁷ Everyone who saw it began muttering, “He has gone to be the house-guest of a sinner.” ⁸ But Zakkai stood there and said to the Lord, “Here, Lord, I am giving half of all I own to the poor; and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.” ⁹ Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, inasmuch as this man too is a son of Avraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.”

¹¹ While they were listening to this, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because he was near Yerushalayim, and the people supposed that the Kingdom of God was about to appear at any moment. ¹² Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a country far away to have himself crowned king and then return. ¹³ Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten manim [a maneh is about three months’ wages] and said to them, ‘Do business with this while I’m away.’ ¹⁴ But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’

¹⁵ “However, he returned, having been made king, and sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what each one had earned in his business dealings. ¹⁶ The first one came in and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned ten more manim.’ ¹⁷ ‘Excellent!’ he said to him. ‘You are a good servant. Because you have been trustworthy in a small matter, I am putting you in charge of ten towns.’ ¹⁸ The second one came and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned five more manim; ¹⁹ and to this one he said, ‘You be in charge of five towns.’

²⁰ “Then another one came and said, ‘Sir, here is your maneh. I kept it hidden in a piece of cloth, ²¹ because I was afraid of you — you take out what you didn’t put in, and you harvest what you didn’t plant.’ ²² To him the master said, ‘You wicked servant! I will judge you by your own words! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, taking out what I didn’t put in and harvesting what I didn’t plant? ²³ Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then, when I returned, I would have gotten it back with interest!’ ²⁴ To those standing by, he said, ‘Take the maneh from him and give it to the one with ten manim.’ ²⁵ They said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten manim!’ ²⁶ But the master answered, ‘I tell you, everyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. ²⁷ However, as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence!’”

²⁸ After saying this, Yeshua went on and began the ascent to Yerushalayim. ²⁹ As he approached Beit-Pagei and Beit-Anyah, by the Mount of Olives, he sent two talmidim, ³⁰ instructing them, “Go into the village ahead; on entering it, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks why you are untying it, tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² Those who were sent went off and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ and they said, “Because the Lord needs it.” ³⁵ They brought it to Yeshua; and, throwing their robes on the colt, they put Yeshua on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people carpeted the road with their clothing; ³⁷ and as he came near Yerushalayim, where the road descends from the Mount of Olives, the entire band of talmidim began to sing and praise God at the top of their voices for all the powerful works they had seen:

³⁹ Some of the P’rushim in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi! Reprimand your talmidim!” ⁴⁰ But he answered them, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones will shout!”

⁴¹ When Yeshua had come closer and could see the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for shalom! But for now it is hidden from your sight. ⁴³ For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, encircle you, hem you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, leaving not one stone standing on another — and all because you did not recognize your opportunity when God offered it!”

⁴⁵ Then Yeshua entered the Temple grounds and began driving out those doing business there, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “The Tanakh says, ‘My House is to be a house of prayer,’^[b] but you have made it into a den of robbers!”^[c]

⁴⁷ Every day he taught at the Temple. The head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the leaders of the people tried to find a way of putting an end to him; ⁴⁸ but they couldn’t find any way of doing it, because all the people were hanging onto his every word.

20 One day, as Yeshua was teaching the people at the Temple, making known the Good News, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers, along with the elders, came up to him ² and said, “Tell us, what s’mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? Who gave you this s’mikhah?” ³ He answered, “I too will ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴ the immersion of Yochanan — was it from Heaven or from a human source?” ⁵ They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From a human source,’ all the people will stone us, because they’re convinced that Yochanan was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered, “We don’t know where it came from.” ⁸ Yeshua said to them, “Then I won’t tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things.”

⁹ Next Yeshua told the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to tenant-farmers and went away for a long time. ¹⁰ When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to receive his share of the crop from the vineyard; but the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant; they beat him too, insulted him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² He sent yet a third; this one they wounded and threw out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What am I to do? I will send my son, whom I love; maybe they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours!’ ¹⁵ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and put an end to those tenants and give the vineyard to others!” When the people heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!” ¹⁷ But Yeshua looked searchingly at them and said, “Then what is this which is written in the Tanakh,

¹⁸ Whoever falls on that stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!”

¹⁹ The Torah-teachers and the head cohanim would have seized him at that very moment, because they knew that he had aimed this parable at them, but they were afraid of the people.

²⁰ So they kept a close watch on the situation. They sent spies who hypocritically represented themselves as righteous, so that they might seize hold of something Yeshua said, as an excuse to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. ²¹ They put to him this sh’eilah: “Rabbi, we know that you speak and teach straightforwardly, showing no partiality but really teaching what God’s way is. ²² Does Torah permit us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” ²³ But he, spotting their craftiness, said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius! Whose name and picture does it have?” “The Emperor’s,” they replied. ²⁵ “Then,” he said to them, “give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give God what belongs to God!” ²⁶ They were unable to trap him by anything he said publicly; indeed, amazed at his answer, they fell silent.

²⁷ Some Tz’dukim, who say there is no resurrection, came to Yeshua ²⁸ and put to him a sh’eilah: “Rabbi, Moshe wrote for us that if a man dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife and have children to preserve the man’s family line.^{[e] 29} Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless, ³⁰ then the second ³¹ and third took her, and likewise all seven, but they all died without leaving children. ³² Lastly, the woman also died. ³³ In the Resurrection, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.”

³⁴ Yeshua said to them, “In this age, men and women marry; ³⁵ but those judged worthy of the age to come, and of resurrection from the dead, do not get married, ³⁶ because they can no longer die. Being children of the Resurrection, they are like angels; indeed, they are children of God.

³⁷ “But even Moshe showed that the dead are raised; for in the passage about the bush, he calls Adonai ‘the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov.’^{[f] 38} Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living — to him all are alive.”

³⁹ Some of the Torah-teachers answered, “Well spoken, Rabbi.” ⁴⁰ For they no longer dared put to him a sh’eilah. ⁴¹ But he said to them, “How is it that people say the Messiah is David’s son?” ⁴² For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David thus calls him ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”

⁴⁵ Within the hearing of all the people, Yeshua said to his talmidim, ⁴⁶ “Watch out for the kind of Torah-teachers that like to walk around in robes and be greeted deferentially in the marketplaces, the kind that like to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets, ⁴⁷ the kind that swallow up widows’ houses while making a show of davvening at great length. Their punishment will be all the worse!”