Jesus goes into Jerusalem
1 Jesus and his 12 disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They came to the village called Bethphage. They were on the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further.
21:1Bethphage is a village on the east side of the Mount of Olives.
21:1The Mount of Olives is on the east side of Jerusalem. It is called this because many olive trees grow on it.
2 He said to them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will immediately see a donkey tied there with her young donkey. Undo the ropes and bring both the donkeys here to me. 3 Someone may ask you, “What are you doing?” Then say, “The Master needs them. He will send them back to you soon.” ’
4 A prophet had spoken a message from God about this long ago. Now it became true.
5 ‘Say to the people in Jerusalem,
“Look, your king is coming to you.
He does not come like someone who thinks that he is important.
He is riding on a donkey.
Yes, he is riding on a young donkey.” ’
6 So the two disciples went to the village. They did everything that Jesus had told them to do. 7 They brought the donkey and the young donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on the backs of the donkeys. Then Jesus got up and sat on one of them. 8 Many people in the crowd put their coats down on the road. Other people cut branches down from trees. They put these branches down on the road.
21:8The people did this so that the donkeys could walk on the coats and on the branches. People often did this when they received someone important.
9 Many crowds of people went in front of Jesus and other people followed him. All of them were shouting,
‘We praise the Son of David!
May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority!
We praise God in heaven above!’
10 When Jesus went into Jerusalem, everybody in the city had trouble in their minds. They were asking each other, ‘Who is this man?’
11 The people in the crowd replied, ‘This is God's prophet, Jesus. He comes from Nazareth in Galilee.’
