Chapter 11

¹When they were getting near Jerusalem, and had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead, ²and said to them,

“Go to the village that lies in front of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³And if anybody says to you, ‘Why are you doing that?’ say, ‘The Master needs it, and will send it back here directly.’ ”

⁴And they set off and found a colt tied in the street at the door of a house, and they untied it. ⁵Some of the bystanders said to them,

“What are you doing, untying the colt?”

⁶But they answered them as Jesus had told them to do, and the men let them take it. ⁷So they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their coats over it and Jesus mounted it. ⁸And many of the people spread their coats in the road, and others cut straw from the fields and scattered it in his path. ⁹And those in front and those behind shouted,

“God bless him!

Blessed be he who comes in the Lord’s name!

¹⁰Blessed be the reign of our father David which is coming!

God bless him from on high!”

¹¹And he came into Jerusalem and into the Temple, and looked it all over; then, as it was already late, he went out with the Twelve to Bethany.

¹²On the next day, after they had left Bethany, he felt hungry. ¹³And he saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went up to it to see if he could find any figs on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for figs. ¹⁴And he spoke to the tree and said to it,

“May no one ever eat fruit from you any more!”

And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵When they reached Jerusalem, he went into the Temple, and began to drive out of it those who were buying or selling things in it, and he upset the money-changers’ tables and the pigeon-dealers’ seats, ¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. ¹⁷And he taught them, and said,

“Does not the Scripture say, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ cave.”

¹⁸The high priests and the scribes heard of this, and they cast about for a way of destroying him, for they were afraid of him, for all the people were amazed at what he taught. ¹⁹So when evening came, he and his disciples used to go out of the city.

²⁰In the morning as they were passing along, they saw that the fig tree was withered, to its very roots. ²¹And Peter remembered about it and said to him,

“Look, Master! The fig tree that you cursed is withered up!”

²²Jesus answered and said to them,

“Have faith in God! ²³I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Get up and throw yourself into the sea!’ and has no doubt in his mind, but has faith that what he says will happen, shall have it. ²⁴Therefore I tell you, whenever you pray or ask for anything, have faith that it has been granted you, and you shall have it. ²⁵And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven too may forgive you your offenses.”

²⁷Then they went into Jerusalem again. And as Jesus was walking about in the Temple, the high priests, scribes, and elders came up ²⁸and said to him,

“What authority have you for doing as you do? And who gave you a right to do as you are doing?”

²⁹Jesus said to them,

“Let me ask you one question, and if you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have for doing as I do. ³⁰Was John’s baptism from heaven or from men? Answer me.”

³¹And they argued with one another,

“If we say, ‘It was from heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³²Yet can we say, ‘It was from men’?” For they were afraid of the people, because all the people thought John was really a prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus,

“We do not know.”

Jesus said to them,

“Nor will I tell you what authority I have for doing as I do.”