Christ rides into Jerusalem upon an ass. He casts the buyers and sellers out of the temple, curses the fig tree and puts to silence the priests and scribes.

¹ And when they had drawn near to Jerusalem, and had arrived at Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,¹

1. 21:1Or, the Mount of Olive Gardens.(Conte)

² saying to them: “Go into the town that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Release them, and lead them to me.

³ And if anyone will have said anything to you, say that the Lord has need of them. And he will promptly dismiss them.”

⁴ Now all this was done in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you meekly, sitting on a donkey and on a colt, the son of one accustomed to the yoke.”

⁶ Then the disciples, going out, did just as Jesus instructed them.

⁷ And they brought the donkey and the colt, and they laid their garments on them, and they helped him sit upon them.

⁸ Then a very numerous crowd spread their garments on the way. But others cut branches from the trees and scattered them on the way.

⁹ And the crowds that preceded him, and those that followed, cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ And when he had entered into Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ But the people were saying, “This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

¹² And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and he cast out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of the vendors of doves.

¹³ And he said to them: “It is written: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer. But you have made it into a den of robbers.’ ”¹

1. 21:13The Jewish Law distinguishes between theft and robbery; the former involves secretive stealing, the latter involves stealing directly from someone, using force. The word ‘latronum’ refers to robbery, not theft.(Conte)

¹⁴ And the blind and the lame drew near to him in the temple; and he healed them.

¹⁵ Then the leaders of the priests and the scribes became indignant, seeing the miracles that he wrought, and the children crying out in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

¹⁶ And they said to him, “Do you hear what these ones are saying?” But Jesus said to them, “Certainly. Have you never read: For out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have perfected praise?”

¹⁷ And leaving them behind, he went out, beyond the city, into Bethania, and he lodged here.

¹⁸ Then, as he was returning to the city in the morning, he was hungry.

¹⁹ And seeing a certain fig tree beside the way, he approached it. And he found nothing on it, except only leaves. And he said to it, “May fruit never spring forth from you, for all time.” And immediately the fig tree was dried up.

²⁰ And seeing this, the disciples wondered, saying, “How did it dry up so quickly?”

²¹ And Jesus responded to them by saying: “Amen I say to you, if you have faith and do not hesitate, not only shall you do this, concerning the fig tree, but even if you would say to this mountain, ‘Take and cast yourself into the sea,’ it shall be done.

²² And all things whatsoever that you shall ask for in prayer: believing, you shall receive.”

²³ And when he had arrived at the temple, as he was teaching, the leaders of the priests and the elders of the people approached him, saying: “By what authority do you do these things? And who has given this authority to you?”

²⁴ In response, Jesus said to them: “I also will question you with one word: if you tell me this, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵ The baptism of John, where was it from? Was it from heaven, or from men?” But they thought within themselves, saying:

²⁶ “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we have the crowd to fear, for they all hold John to be a prophet.”

²⁷ And so, they answered Jesus by saying, “We do not know.” So he also said to them: “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸ But how does it seem to you? A certain man had two sons. And approaching the first, he said: ‘Son, go out today to work in my vineyard.’

²⁹ And responding, he said, ‘I am not willing.’ But afterwards, being moved by repentance, he went.

³⁰ And approaching the other, he spoke similarly. And answering, he said, ‘I am going, lord.’ And he did not go.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them: “Amen I say to you, that tax collectors and prostitutes shall precede you, into the kingdom of God.¹

1. 21:31The word ‘meretrices’ can also refer to loose or promiscuous women.(Conte)

³² For John came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Yet even after seeing this, you did not repent, so as to believe him.

³³ Listen to another parable. There was a man, the father of a family, who planted a vineyard, and surrounded it with a hedge, and dug a press in it, and built a tower. And he loaned it out to farmers, and he set out to sojourn abroad.

³⁴ Then, when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, so that they might receive its fruits.

³⁵ And the farmers apprehended his servants; they struck one, and killed another, and stoned yet another.

³⁶ Again, he sent other servants, more than before; and they treated them similarly.

³⁷ Then, at the very end, he sent his son to them, saying: ‘They will revere my son.’

³⁸ But the farmers, seeing the son, said among themselves: ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and then we will have his inheritance.’

³⁹ And apprehending him, they cast him outside the vineyard, and they killed him.¹

1. 21:39Christ was killed just outside Jerusalem, the holy city.(Conte)

⁴⁰ Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those farmers?”

⁴¹ They said to him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and he will loan out his vineyard to other farmers, who shall repay to him the fruit in its time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?’¹

1. 21:42The question mark is omitted because the quote from Scripture is not a question and because it is a rhetorical question.(Conte)

⁴³ Therefore, I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and it shall be given to a people who shall produce its fruits.

⁴⁴ And whoever will have fallen on this stone shall be broken, yet truly, on whomever it shall fall, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ And when the leaders of the priests, and the Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them.

⁴⁶ And though they sought to take hold of him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.¹

1. 21:46Or, ‘the Prophet’ (the one predicted to be greater than Moses).(Conte)