Mark 11

The Triumphal Entry

¹When ^a they approached Jerusalem, ^b at Bethphage and Bethany ^c near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this? ’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ”

⁴So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, ⁵and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt? ” ⁶They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go.

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their clothes on the road, ^d and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. ^{e 9}Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes

in the name^f of the Lord!^g,^h

¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom ⁱ

of our father David! ^j

Hosanna^k in the highest heaven!

¹¹He went into Jerusalem ^l and into the temple. ^m After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany ⁿ with the Twelve.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Cursed

¹²The ^o next day when they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³Seeing in the distance a fig ^p tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit^q from you again! ”^r And his disciples ^s heard it.

Cleansing the Temple

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, ^t and he went into the temple ^u and began to throw out those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers ^v and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple. ¹⁷He was teaching them: “Is it not written,^w My house^x will be called a house of prayer^y for all nations?^z But you have made it a den of thieves! ”^aa,^ab

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes ^ac heard it and started looking for a way to kill him. For they were afraid ^ad of him, because the whole crowd was astonished by his teaching.

¹⁹Whenever evening came, they would go out of the city.

The Barren Fig Tree Is Withered

²⁰Early ^ae in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹Then Peter ^af remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, ^ag look! The fig tree that you cursed ^ah has withered.”

²²Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.^{ai 23}Truly I tell you,^aj if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt^ak in his heart, but believes^al that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.^{am 24}Therefore I tell you, everything you pray^an and ask for^ao #— #believe that you have received^ap,^aq it and it will be yours. ²⁵And whenever you stand^ar praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive^as him, so that your Father^at in heaven^au will also forgive^av you your wrongdoing.”^aw

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²⁷They ^ax came again to Jerusalem. ^ay As he was walking in the temple, ^az the chief priests, the scribes, ^ba and the elders ^bb came ²⁸and asked him, “By what authority ^bc are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things? ”

²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question;^bd then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Was John’s baptism^be from heaven or of human origin? Answer me.”

³¹They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe ^bf him? ’ ³²But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ ” #— #they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet. ^{bg 33}So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”