Mark 11

Goodspeed^{(i) 1} When they were getting near Jerusalem, and had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead, ² and said to them, "Go to the village that lies in front of you, and as soon as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³ And if anybody says to you, 'Why are you doing that?' say, 'The Master needs it, and will send it back here directly.' " ⁴ And they set off and found a colt tied in the street at the door of a house, and they untied it. ⁵ Some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" ⁶ But they answered them as Jesus had told them to do, and the men let them take it. ⁷ So they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their coats over it and Jesus mounted it. ⁸ And many of the people spread their coats in the road, and others cut straw from the fields and scattered it in his path. ⁹ And those in front and those behind shouted, "God bless him! Blessed be he who comes in the Lord's name! ¹⁰ Blessed be the reign of our father David which is coming! God bless him from on high!" ¹¹ And he came into Jerusalem and into the Temple, and looked it all over; then, as it was already late, he went out with the Twelve to Bethany. ¹² On the next day, after they had left Bethany, he felt hungry. ¹³ And he saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went up to it to see if he could find any figs on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for figs. ¹⁴ And he spoke to the tree and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you any more!" And his disciples heard it. ¹⁵ When they reached Jerusalem, he went into the Temple, and began to drive out of it those who were buying or selling things in it, and he upset the money-changers' tables and the pigeon-dealers' seats, ¹⁶ and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. ¹⁷ And he taught them, and said, "Does not the Scripture say, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' cave." ¹⁸ The high priests and the scribes heard of this, and they cast about for a way of destroying him, for they were afraid of him, for all the people were amazed at what he taught. ¹⁹ So when evening came, he and his disciples used to go out of the city. ²⁰ In the morning as they were passing along, they saw that the fig tree was withered, to its very roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered about it and said to him, "Look, Master! The fig tree that you cursed is withered up!" ²² Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God! ²³ I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea!' and has no doubt in his mind, but has faith that what he says will happen, shall have it. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whenever you pray or ask for anything, have faith that it has been granted you, and you shall have it. ²⁵ And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven too may forgive you your offenses." ²⁶ OMITTED TEXT ²⁷ Then they went into Jerusalem again. And as Jesus was walking about in the Temple, the high priests, scribes, and elders came up ²⁸ and said to him, "What authority have you for doing as you do? And who gave you a right to do as you are doing?" ²⁹ Jesus said to them, "Let me ask you one question, and if you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have for doing as I do. ³⁰ Was John's baptism from heaven or from men? Answer me." ³¹ And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'It was from heaven,' he will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' ³² Yet can we say, 'It was from men'?" For they were afraid of the people, because all the people thought John was really a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." Jesus said to them, "Nor will I tell you what authority I have for doing as I do."