Jesus goes into Jerusalem
1 Jesus and his 12 disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They came to the village called Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further. 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.” ’
21:1The Mount of Olives is on the east side of Jerusalem. Many olive trees grow on it.
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 is humble and 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 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 when a king or a great leader came. They did it to give him honour.
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.’
Jesus chases traders out of the temple
12 Jesus then went into the yard of the temple. People were buying and selling things there. Jesus made them all leave that place. He pushed over the tables of the men who changed coins. He also pushed over the seats of the men who sold birds.
21:12The temple had a wall around it. Only the priests went into the temple building. Other people could meet in the yard around the temple building.
21:12The people had to use different money in the temple to buy birds and animals to offer as gifts to God.
13 Jesus spoke to them all. He said, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people come together to pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’
14 Blind people went to meet Jesus in the yard of the temple. People who could not walk very well also went there. Jesus caused them all to become well. 15 The leaders of the priests and teachers of God's Law saw all the powerful things that Jesus did. They also saw children in the yard of the temple who were shouting, ‘Welcome! We pray that God will bless you, Son of David!’ All these things caused the important Jews to become very angry.
16 They asked Jesus, ‘Can you hear what these children are saying?’
Jesus replied, ‘Yes, I can hear them. I am sure that you have read this in the Bible:
“ Lord God, babies and children praise you.
You yourself have taught them to do that.” ’
17 Then Jesus left everyone and he went out of the city. He stayed that night in Bethany.
21:17Bethany was a village near Bethphage, very near to Jerusalem.
