Matthew 21:18-46

The Barren Fig Tree

18 ¹Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

19 Seeing a lone ²fig 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, ³if 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 ⁴all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Authority Challenged

23 ⁵When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ⁶while 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 ⁷a prophet."

27 And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know." He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the ⁸vineyard.'

29 "And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.

30 "The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir '; but he did not go.

31 "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that ⁹the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.

32 "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ¹⁰the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

33 "Listen to another parable. ¹¹There was a landowner who ¹²PLANTED A ¹³VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and ¹⁴went on a journey.

34 "When the harvest time approached, he ¹⁵sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.

35 "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another *, and stoned a third.

36 "Again he ¹⁶sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

37 "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

38 "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'

39 "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"

41 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and ¹⁷will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."

42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, '¹⁸THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES '?