The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is liket a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.u 2 He agreed to pay them a denariusa for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came,v the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumblew against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heatx of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.y Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’z

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”a

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

20:17–19pp—Mk 10:32–34; Lk 18:31–33

17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem,b and the Son of Manc will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.d They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and floggede and crucified.f On the third dayg he will be raised to life!”h

A Mother’s Request

20:20–28pp—Mk 10:35–45

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sonsi came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down,j asked a favor of him.

21 “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”k

22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cupl I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup,m but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignantn with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,o 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Manp did not come to be served, but to serve,q and to give his life as a ransomr for many.”

Two Blind Men Receive Sight

20:29–34pp—Mk 10:46–52; Lk 18:35–43

29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David,s have mercy on us!”

31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21:1–9pp—Mk 11:1–10; Lk 19:29–38
21:4–9pp—Jn 12:12–15

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,t Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfillu what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion,

‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”a v

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaksw on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosannab to the Son of David!”x

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”c y

“Hosannad in the highest heaven!”z

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the propheta from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus at the Temple

21:12–16pp—Mk 11:15–18; Lk 19:45–47

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buyingb and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changersc and the benches of those selling doves.d 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’e e but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’f”f

14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.g 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,”h they were indignant.i

16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

“ ‘From the lips of children and infants

you, Lord, have called forth your praise’g?”j

17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany,k where he spent the night.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

21:18–22pp—Mk 11:12–14,20–24

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.l

20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt,m not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask forn in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

21:23–27pp—Mk 11:27–33; Lk 20:1–8

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authorityo are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”p

27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’q

29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectorsr and the prostitutess are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,t and you did not believe him, but the tax collectorsu and the prostitutesv did. And even after you saw this, you did not repentw and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

21:33–46pp—Mk 12:1–12; Lk 20:9–19

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who plantedx a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.y Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.z 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servantsa to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.b 36 Then he sent other servantsc to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.d Come, let’s kill hime and take his inheritance.’f 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”g they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,h who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’h?i

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from youj and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”i k

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.l

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22:2–14Ref—Lk 14:16–24

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is likem a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servantsn to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servantso and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderersp and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street cornersq and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good,r and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friends?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’t

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”u

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

22:15–22pp—Mk 12:13–17; Lk 20:20–26

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.v “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial taxa w to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,x and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.y

Marriage at the Resurrection

22:23–33pp—Mk 12:18–27; Lk 20:27–40

23 That same day the Sadducees,z who say there is no resurrection,a came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.b 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scripturesc or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage;d they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’b?e He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.f

The Greatest Commandment

22:34–40pp—Mk 12:28–31

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,g the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law,h tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’c i 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’d j 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”k

Whose Son Is the Messiah?

22:41–46pp—Mk 12:35–37; Lk 20:41–44

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,”l they replied.

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

under your feet.” ’e m

45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.n

A Warning Against Hypocrisy

23:1–7pp—Mk 12:38,39; Lk 20:45,46
23:37–39pp—Lk 13:34,35

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the lawo and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.p

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see:q They make their phylacteriesa r wide and the tassels on their garmentss long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;t 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.u

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father,v and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant.w 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.x

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!y You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.z [14]b

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,a and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hellb as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides!c You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’d 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?e 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?f 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwellsg in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.h

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenthi of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.j You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides!k You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,l but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.m 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,n which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophetso and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.p 32 Go ahead, then, and completeq what your ancestors started!r

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers!s How will you escape being condemned to hell?t 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;u others you will flog in your synagoguesv and pursue from town to town.w 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abelx to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,y whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.z 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.a

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,b how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,c and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.d 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’c”e

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

24:1–51pp—Mk 13:1–37; Lk 21:5–36

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another;f every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives,g the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your comingh and of the end of the age?”i

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.j 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.k 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.l There will be faminesm and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecutedn and put to death,o and you will be hated by all nations because of me.p 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophetsq will appear and deceive many people.r 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.s 14 And this gospel of the kingdomt will be preached in the whole worldu as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy placev ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’a w spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetopx go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!y 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.z

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the electa those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.b 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wondersc to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightningd that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the cominge of the Son of Man.f 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.g

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“ ‘the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’b h

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earthc will mourni when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,j with power and great glory.d 31 And he will send his angelsk with a loud trumpet call,l and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that ite is near, right at the door.m 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.n 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.o

The Day and Hour Unknown

24:37–39pp—Lk 17:26,27
24:45–51pp—Lk 12:42–46

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,f but only the Father.p 37 As it was in the days of Noah,q so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,r up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.s 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.t 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.u

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.v 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,w he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready,x because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,y whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.z 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.a 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.b 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.c