Matthew 21:16-26

16 and said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, '¹OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"

17 And He left them and went out of the city to ²Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

18 ³Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

19 Seeing a lone ⁴fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever * be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, ⁵if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.

22 "And ⁶all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Authority Challenged

23 ⁷When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ⁸while He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?"

24 Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

25 "The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?" And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why * did you not believe him?'

26 "But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as ⁹a prophet."

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 8:2; Matthew 11:25
• 2. Matthew 26:6; Mark 11:1, 11, 12; Mark 14:3; Luke 19:29; Luke 24:50; John 11:1, 18; John 12:1
• 3. Matthew 21:18-22: {Mark 11:12-14, 20-24}
• 4. Luke 13:6-9
• 5. Matthew 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6; James 1:6
• 6. Matthew 7:7
• 7. Matthew 21:23-27: {Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8}
• 8. Matthew 26:55
• 9. Matthew 11:9; Mark 6:20

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "word"
• [b]. Lit "crowd"