The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem^(A)

21 As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives. There Jesus sent two of the disciples on ahead ² with these instructions: “Go to the village there ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied up with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ And if anyone says anything, tell him, ‘The Master^[a] needs them’; and then he will let them go at once.”

⁴ This happened in order to make come true what the prophet had said:

⁶ So the disciples went and did what Jesus had told them to do: ⁷ they brought the donkey and the colt, threw their cloaks over them, and Jesus got on. ⁸ A large crowd of people spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ^9 (C)The crowds walking in front of Jesus and those walking behind began to shout, “Praise to David's Son! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise be to God!”

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into an uproar. “Who is he?” the people asked.

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

The Triumphant Approach to Jerusalem^(A)

²⁸ After Jesus said this, he went on in front of them toward Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead ³⁰ with these instructions: “Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If someone asks you why you are untying it, tell him that the Master^[a] needs it.”

³² They went on their way and found everything just as Jesus had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying it?”

³⁴ “The Master needs it,” they answered, ³⁵ and they took the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over the animal and helped Jesus get on. ³⁶ As he rode on, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷ When he came near Jerusalem, at the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives, the large crowd of his disciples began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen: ^38 (B)“God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!”

³⁹ Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “command your disciples to be quiet!”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.”

The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem^(A)

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ^13 (B)So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a donkey and rode on it, just as the scripture says,

¹⁶ His disciples did not understand this at the time; but when Jesus had been raised to glory, they remembered that the scripture said this about him and that they had done this for him.

¹⁷ The people who had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from death had reported what had happened. ¹⁸ That was why the crowd met him—because they heard that he had performed this miracle. ¹⁹ The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following him!”