Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 21:4-22 - New King James Version (2024)

^4[a]All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

⁵“Tell^(A) the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

^6(B)So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt, ^(C)laid their clothes on them, ^[b]and set Him on them. ⁸And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; ^(D)others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
^(E)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”

^10(F)And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, ^(G)the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple^(H)

^12(I)Then Jesus went into the temple ^[c]of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the ^(J)money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³And He said to them, “It is written, ^(K)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ^(L)‘den of thieves.’ ”

¹⁴Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the ^(M)Son of David!” they were ^[d]indignant ¹⁶and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

^(N)‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise’?”

¹⁷Then He left them and ^(O)went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

The Fig Tree Withered^(P)

^18(Q)Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. ^19(R)And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree^(S)

^20(T)And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

²¹So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, ^(U)if you have faith and ^(V)do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, ^(W)but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. ²²And ^(X)whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

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