New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.
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When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task.
2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me.
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He said to them, "Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter, you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
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If anybody says anything to you, say that the Lord needs it." He sent them off right away.
4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
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Now this happened to fulfill what the prophet said,
5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
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Say to Daughter Zion, "Look, your king is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the donkey's offspring."
6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded.
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The disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
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They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them. Then he sat on them.
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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Now a large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut palm branches off the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD ! Praise God in highest heaven!”
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The crowds in front of him and behind him shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!Hosanna in the highest!"
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
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And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. "Who is this?" they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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The crowds answered, "It's the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.
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Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves.
13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”
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He said to them, "It's written, My house will be called a house of prayer. But you've made it a hideout for crooks."
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.
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People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them.
15 The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.” But the leaders were indignant.
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But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were angry.
16 They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’ ”
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They said to Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," he answered. "Haven't you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you've arranged praise for yourself?"
17 Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
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Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
18 In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry,
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Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry.
19 and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.
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He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, "You'll never again bear fruit!" The fig tree dried up at once.
20 The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
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When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree dry up so fast?" they asked.
21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.
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Jesus responded, "I assure you that if you have faith and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.' And it will happen.
22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
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If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for."
23 When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”
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When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, "What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?"
24 “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied.
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Jesus replied, "I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I'll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
25 “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John.
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Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?" They argued among themselves, "If we say ‘from heaven,' he'll say to us, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?'
26 But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.”
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But we can't say ‘from humans' because we're afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet."
27 So they finally replied, “We don’t know.” And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.
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Then they replied, "We don't know." Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
28 “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’
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“What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
29 The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway.
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“‘No, I don't want to,' he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.
30 Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.
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“The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.' But he didn't go.
31 “Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
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"Which one of these two did his father's will?" They said, "The first one." Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God's kingdom ahead of you.
32 For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.
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For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn't believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn't change your hearts and lives and you didn't believe him.
33 “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.
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“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip.
34 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.
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When it was time for harvest, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.
35 But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
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But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.
36 So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.
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“Again he sent other servants, more than the first group. They treated them in the same way.
37 “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’
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Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,' he said.
38 “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’
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“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let's kill him and we'll have his inheritance.'
39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
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They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
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"When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?"
41 The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”
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They said, "He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it's ready."
42 Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’
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Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it's amazing in our eyes?
43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.
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Therefore, I tell you that God's kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit.
44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on. ”
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Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on."
45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers.
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Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them.
46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.
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They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.