Chapter 19

¹And he went into Jericho and was passing through it. ²Now there was a man named Zaccheus, the principal tax-collector, a rich man, ³who wanted to see who Jesus was, and he could not because of the crowd, for he was a small man. ⁴So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree, to see him, for Jesus was coming that way. ⁵When Jesus reached the place, he looked up and said to him,

“Zaccheus, come down quickly! for I must stay at your house today.”

⁶And he came down quickly and welcomed him gladly. ⁷And when they saw this, everyone complained, and said,

“He has gone to stay with an irreligious man!”

⁸But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Master,

“See, Master! I will give half my property to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay him four times as much.”

⁹Jesus said to him,

“Salvation has come to this house today, for he too is a descendant of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man has come to search for what was lost and to save it.”

¹¹As they were listening to this, Jesus went on to give them an illustration, because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was immediately going to appear. ¹²So he said,

“A nobleman once went to a distant country to secure his appointment to a kingdom and then return. ¹³And he called in ten of his slaves and gave them each twenty dollars and told them to trade with it while he was gone. ¹⁴But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man made king over us.’ ¹⁵And when he had secured the appointment and returned, he ordered the slaves to whom he had given the money to be called in, so that he could find out how much they had made. ¹⁶The first one came in and said, ‘Your twenty dollars has made two hundred, sir!’ ¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Well done, my excellent slave! You have proved trustworthy about a very small amount, you shall be governor of ten towns.’ ¹⁸The second came in and said, ‘Your twenty dollars has made a hundred, sir!’ ¹⁹And he said to him, ‘And you shall be governor of five towns!’ ²⁰And the other one came in and said, ‘Here is your twenty dollars, sir. I have kept it put away in a handkerchief, ²¹for I was afraid of you, for you are a stern man. You pick up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²²He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will convict you, you wretched slave! You knew, did you, that I was a stern man, and that I pick up what I did not lay down, and harvest what I did not sow? ²³Then why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have gotten it with interest?’ ²⁴And he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the twenty dollars away from him, and give it to the man who has the two hundred!’ ²⁵They said to him, ‘He has two hundred, sir!’— ²⁶‘I tell you, the man who has will have more given him, and from the man who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away! ²⁷But bring those enemies of mine here who did not want me made king over them, and slaughter them in my presence!’ ”

²⁸With these words he went on ahead of them, on his way to Jerusalem.

²⁹When he was near Bethphage and Bethany by the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ³⁰and said to them,

“Go to the village that lies in front of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹And if anyone asks you why you are untying it, you are to say, ‘The Master needs it.’

³²And the messengers went and found it just as he had told them. ³³And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them,

“Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴And they said,

“The Master needs it!”

³⁵And they brought it to Jesus. And they threw their coats on the colt and mounted Jesus on it. ³⁶And as he went on, people spread their coats in the road. ³⁷Just as he was coming down the Mount of Olives and approaching the city, the whole throng of his disciples began to praise God loudly and joyfully, for all the wonders they had seen, ³⁸and to say,

“Blessed is the king who comes in the Lord’s name,

Peace be in heaven and glory on high!”

³⁹Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him,

“Master, reprove your disciples!”

⁴⁰And he answered,

“I tell you, if they keep silence, the stones will cry out!”

⁴¹As he approached the city and saw it, he wept over it, ⁴²and said,

“If you yourself only knew today the conditions of peace! But as it is, they are hidden from you. ⁴³For a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up earthworks about you and surround you and shut you in on all sides, ⁴⁴and they will throw you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not know when God visited you!”

⁴⁵Then he went into the Temple and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things there, ⁴⁶and he said to them,

“The Scripture says, ‘And my house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

⁴⁷Every day he taught in the Temple, and the high priests and scribes and the leading men of the people were trying to destroy him, ⁴⁸but they could not find any way to do it, for all the people hung upon his words.