^14 (A)And within the temple grounds He found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ And He made a whip of ^[a]cords, and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; ¹⁶ and to those who were selling ^(B)the doves He said, “Take these things away from here; stop making ^(C)My Father’s house a ^[b]place of business!”

Cleansing the Temple

^12 (A)And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the ^(B)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(C)doves. ¹³ And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘^(D)My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^(E)den of robbers.”

¹⁴ And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and ^(F)He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “^[a]Hosanna to the ^(G)Son of David,” they became indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘^(H)From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” ¹⁷ And He left them and went out of the city to ^(I)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18 (J)Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a lone ^(K)fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and ^[b]asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(L)if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And ^(M)whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

Authority Challenged

^23 (N)When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(O)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[c]question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the ^[d]people; for they all regard John as ^(P)a prophet.” ²⁷ And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[e]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[f]Son, go work today in the ^(Q)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(R)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[g]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(S)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[h]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(T)There was a ^[i]landowner who ^(U)planted a ^(V)vineyard and put a ^[j]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[k]vine-growers and ^(W)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[l]harvest time approached, he ^(X)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(Y)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[m]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(Z)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[o]people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And ^(AB)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they ^(AC)feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a ^(AD)prophet.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

^15 (A)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[a]doves;

¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘^(A)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^(B)But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Traders Driven from the Temple

^45 (A)And Jesus entered the temple grounds and began to drive out those who were selling, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written: ‘^(B)And My house will be a house of prayer,’ ^(C)but you have made it a den of robbers.”

⁴⁷ And ^(D)He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people ^(E)were trying to put Him to death, ⁴⁸ and yet they could not find ^[a]anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to ^[b]every word He said.

The Purifier

3 “^(A)Behold, I am sending ^(B)My ^[a]messenger, and he will ^(C)clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; ^[b]and the ^[c](D)messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies. ² “But who can ^(E)endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a ^(F)refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap. ³ And He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^(G)purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^(H)present to the Lord ^[d]offerings in righteousness. ⁴ Then the ^[e]offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be ^(I)pleasing to the Lord as in the ^(J)days of old, and as in former years.

⁵ “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the ^(K)sorcerers, the ^(L)adulterers, against those who ^(M)swear falsely, those who ^[f]oppress the ^(N)wage earner in his wages or the ^(O)widow or the ^[g]orphan, and those who turn away the ^(P)stranger from justice and do not ^[h]fear Me,” says the Lord of armies. ⁶ “For ^[i]I, the Lord, ^(Q)do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.

⁷ “From the ^(R)days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. ^(S)Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You Have Robbed God

⁸ “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In ^(T)tithes and ^[j]offerings. ⁹ You are ^(U)cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! ^10 (V)Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not ^(W)open for you the windows of heaven and ^(X)pour out for you a blessing until ^[k](Y)it overflows. ¹¹ Then I will rebuke the ^(Z)devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. ¹² “^(AA)All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a ^(AB)delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.

¹³ “Your words have been ^[l]arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is ^(AC)pointless to serve God; and what ^(AD)benefit is it for us that we have done what He required, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of armies? ¹⁵ So now we ^(AE)call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also put God to the test and ^(AF)escape punishment.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who ^[m]feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord ^(AG)listened attentively and heard it, and a ^(AH)book of remembrance was written before Him for those who ^[n]fear the Lord and esteem His name. ¹⁷ “And they will be ^(AI)Mine,” says the Lord of armies, “on the ^(AJ)day that I ^[o]prepare My ^(AK)own possession, and I will have compassion for them just as a man ^(AL)has compassion for his own son who serves him.” ¹⁸ So you will again ^(AM)distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.