\v 1 As Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
\v 2 saying to them, "Go into the next village, and you will immediately find a donkey tied up there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
\v 12 Then Jesus entered the temple of God. He cast out all those who bought and sold in the temple. He also turned over the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
\v 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."
\v 14 Then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
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\v 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things that he did, and when they heard the children shouting in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of David," they were moved with resentment.
\v 16 They said to him, "Do you hear what these people are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes! But have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise'?"
\v 17 Then Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany and slept there.
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\v 18 Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
\v 19 He saw a fig tree on the roadside. He went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "May there be no fruit from you ever again." And immediately the fig tree dried up.
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\v 20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled and said, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
\v 21 Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to this fig tree, but you will even say to this hill, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and it will be done.
\v 22 Everything for which you ask in prayer while believing, you will receive."
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\v 23 When Jesus had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, "By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?"
\v 24 Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question. If you tell me, I will likewise tell you the authority with which I do these things.
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\v 25 The baptism of John—where did it come from, from heaven or from men?" They discussed among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
\v 26 But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the crowd, because they all view John as a prophet."
\v 27 Then they answered Jesus and said, " We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
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\v 28 But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.'
\v 29 The son answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went.
\v 30 And the man went to the second son and said the same thing. This son answered and said, 'I will go, sir,' but he did not go.
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\v 31 Which of the two sons did his father's will?" They said, "The first one." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do.
\v 32 For John came to you in the path of righteousness, but you did not believe him, while the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And you, when you saw that happen, did not even repent later in order to believe him.
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\v 33 Listen to another parable. There was a man, a person with extensive land. He planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a watchtower, and rented it out to vine growers. Then he went into another country.
\v 34 When the time of the grape harvest drew near, he sent some servants to the vine growers to get his grapes.
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\v 35 But the vine growers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned still another.
\v 36 Once more, the owner sent other servants, more than the first, but the vine growers treated them in the same way.
\v 37 After that, the owner sent his own son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
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\v 38 But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and possess the inheritance.'
\v 39 So they took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
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\v 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers?"
\v 41 The people said to him, "He will destroy those miserable men in the most severe way, and will then rent out the vineyard to other vine growers, men who will pay for the grapes when they become ripe."
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\v 42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures,
\q 'The stone which the builders rejected
\q has been made the cornerstone.
\q This was from the Lord,
\q and it is marvelous in our eyes?'
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\v 43 Therefore I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation that cultivates its fruits.
\v 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. But on whomever it falls, it will crush."
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\v 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they saw that he was speaking about them.
\v 46 But whenever they tried to lay hands on him, they were afraid of the crowd, because the people regarded him as a prophet.
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