Mark 11:20-33

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

20 ¹As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

21 And Peter remembered and said to him, ²"Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered."

22 And Jesus answered them, "Have ³faith in God.

23 ⁴Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ⁵'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not ⁶doubt in his heart, but ⁷believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

24 Therefore I tell you, ⁸whatever you ask in prayer, ⁹believe that you ¹⁰have received^[a] it, and it will be yours.

25 And whenever ¹¹you stand praying, ¹²forgive, ¹³if you have anything against anyone, so that ¹⁴your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."^[b]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

27 ¹⁵And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

28 and they said to him, ¹⁶"By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?"

29 Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

30 Was the baptism of John ¹⁷from heaven or from man? Answer me."

31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, ¹⁸'Why then did you not believe him?'

32 But shall we say, 'From man'?"--¹⁹they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ²⁰a prophet.

33 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 20-24, see Matthew 21:19-22
• 2. See John 1:38
• 3. Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:9
• 4. Matthew 17:20
• 5. [Psalms 46:2; 1 Corinthians 13:2; Revelation 8:8]
• 6. Romans 4:20; Romans 14:23; James 1:6
• 7. [Mark 16:17; John 14:12]
• 8. See Matthew 7:7
• 9. [See ver. 23 above]
• 10. [Isaiah 65:24; Matthew 6:8]
• 11. Matthew 6:5; Luke 18:11
• 12. See Matthew 6:14
• 13. Colossians 3:13; [Matthew 5:23; Matthew 6:15]
• 14. Matthew 7:11
• 15. For ver. 27-33, see Matthew 21:23-27; Luke 20:1-8
• 16. [Exodus 2:14; John 1:25; Acts 4:7]
• 17. Luke 15:18, 21; John 3:27
• 18. Matthew 21:32; Luke 7:30
• 19. Matthew 14:5; Matthew 21:46
• 20. [John 5:35]; See Matthew 11:9

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts are receiving
• [b]. Some manuscripts add verse 26: But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses