1 AND when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?

11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

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

15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,

16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

17 ¶ And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.

19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

23 ¶ And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people [ Who is asking the question here? The chief priests of the synagog and the elders of the community. ] came unto him as he [ Jesus ] was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?

24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, [ They had to put some thought into the question because it was a good one. ] saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? [ If they believed John the Baptist that he came with the authority from God then they needed to repent and change their ways. ]

26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. [ So he had them either way. So how do they respond? ]

27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. [ Or we do not want to say because either answer we give will incrimenate us.] And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

28 ¶ But what think ye? [ I will allow you to answer for yourselves so as to not make fools of you; and allow you your agency to choose where you stand. ] A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, son, go work to day in my vineyard.

29 He answered and said, I will not: [ He was honest about it anyway. ] but afterward he repented, and went. [ His heart got the best of him; he humbled himself, he did as he was asked to do. ]

30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. [ First he lied; second he was not diligent in any way; he chose to go about doing as he wanted - his way and not his fathers way. Is the a moral here? The term “go” in the King James Version of the Bible is not in the Greek text, but is entirely conjectural on the part of the translators.15 What if, instead of “go,” one supplied the words “Here am I” instead, which would have conveyed, thus rendered, the spirit of Lucifer’s response in Moses 4:1? Such a claim of moral readiness to do the Lord’s will would not only, in this case, be a good fit to the situation, but also would be consistent with both the original manuscripts of Moses 4:1 and also the corresponding Hebrew of Abraham’s response in Genesis 22:1 as we will now explain.]

31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. [ To whom is he speaking too? Why would the publicans and the harlots go to the kingdom of God first. The answer is in the parable just told. The publicans and harlots are like unto the first son who repeneted and then went and did the work. The chief priests and elders of the people are like the second son. ]

32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: [ You may have believed him; but not enough to change your ways. ] but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

33 ¶ Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

43 Therefore say I unto you, [ He makes sure that they - the leaders gathered here in the synagog. the ones that started challenging his authority; thatt they understand that he is addressing them specifically now. ] The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, [ These leaders of the jews and The Jews as a people. ] and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone [ allusion to the punishment of stoning among the Jews. The place of stoning was twice as high as a man; while standing on this, one of the witnesses struck the culprit on the loins, so that he fell over this scaffold; if he died by the stroke and fall, well; if not, the other witness threw a stone upon his heart, and despatched him. That stone thrown on the culprit was, in some cases, as much as two men could lift up. Tract Sanhed. and Bab. Gemara, and Lightfoot.] shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. [ The concept is such that those who stay in the way of Jesus and his church coming forth shall be gound to powder amking it capiable of being dispursed by the wind. Prophecy toward the Jews. This message is delivered by Jesus as a way of letting them know that he knew that they were plotting his destruction, he knew if and he wanted them to know that he knew it as well. ]

45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.