1When they came near Jerusalem and reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead,
2telling them, "Go into the village across from you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there, with a young donkey beside her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3If anyone says anything to you, you must say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them right away."
4All this happened to fulfill what the prophet had said:
5"Tell the people of Zion, 'Look, your King is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, on a young donkey, the foal of a donkey.'"
6The disciples went and did exactly as Jesus commanded them.
7They brought the donkey and its colt, put their clothes on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8A large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9The crowds walking ahead of him and those following kept shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, asking, "Who is this?"
11The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
12Jesus went into the Temple of God and drove out all the people who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.
13He told them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a hideout for robbers!"
14The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.
15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the amazing things he did, and heard the children in the Temple shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were angry.
16They asked him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Jesus replied, "Yes. Haven't you ever read, 'You have prepared praise from the mouths of babies and infants?'"
17Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
18The next morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.
19He saw a fig tree by the road and went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately, the fig tree dried up.
20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?"
21Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but you can also tell this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen.
22You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, if you believe."
23When he entered the Temple and was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him. They asked, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?"
24Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you tell me the answer, I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25John's baptism—where did it come from? From heaven or from men?" They discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?'
26But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John a prophet."
27They told Jesus, "We don't know." And he replied, "Then I won't tell you on whose authority I do these things either."
28"What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'"
29"The son answered, 'I won't,' but later he changed his mind and went."
30"Then the father went to the second son and said the same thing. The son answered, 'Yes, sir, I will,' but he didn't go."
31"Which of the two sons did what their father wanted?" They answered, "The first one." Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God's Kingdom ahead of you.
32Because John came to you showing you how to live right, and you didn't believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even after seeing this, you didn't change your minds and believe him.
33"Listen to another story: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, built a watchtower, then leased it out to tenant farmers and went to another country.
34When harvest time got near, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit.
35But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
36Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and the farmers treated them the same way.
37Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
38But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and claim his inheritance for ourselves!'
39So they took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those farmers?"
41They answered him, "He will completely destroy those evil men and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his share of the fruit when it's due."
42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful to see'?
43Therefore, I tell you that God's Kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
44Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed to dust."
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his stories, they realized he was talking about them.
46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds because the people considered Jesus to be a prophet.