8 A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
11 The multitudes said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered into the temple of God and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.
13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”
14 The lame and the blind came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant,
16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of children and nursing babies, you have perfected praise’?”
17 He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there.
18 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?”
21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.
22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
23 When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”
27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
29 He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went.
30 He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
34 When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them the same way.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit in its season.”
8 passages from writers of 3 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Reading as
Questions they answer differently
On verse
Oldest first.
Origenc. 185–253Early church, Eastin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:28–31Whence we may gather, that in this parable the Lord spoke to such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and against those who promise great things but do none of these things that they have promised.
Whence we may gather, that in this parable the Lord spoke to such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and against those who promise great things but do none of these things that they have promised.
Origen, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:28–32; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A teacher of Alexandria, the early church’s first great interpreter of the Bible; some of his ideas were later rejected by the church.
Jeromec. 347–420Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:8–9The multitudes that came out of Jericho, and followed the Saviour, cast down their garments, and strewed the way with branches of trees; and therefore it follows, "But the multitudes spread their garments in the way;" that is, beneath the feet of the ass, that it should not stumble against a stone, nor tread upon a thorn, nor fall into a ditch. … For that which the LXX give "Save now, O Lord;" we read in the Hebrew, ’Anna, adonai osianna,’ which Symmachus renders more plainly, "I pray thee, O Lord, save, I pray thee." Let none think that it is a word made up of two words, one Greek and one Hebrew, for it is pure Hebrew.
The multitudes that came out of Jericho, and followed the Saviour, cast down their garments, and strewed the way with branches of trees; and therefore it follows, "But the multitudes spread their garments in the way;" that is, beneath the feet of the ass, that it should not stumble against a stone, nor tread upon a thorn, nor fall into a ditch. … For that which the LXX give "Save now, O Lord;" we read in the Hebrew, ’Anna, adonai osianna,’ which Symmachus renders more plainly, "I pray thee, O Lord, save, I pray thee." Let none think that it is a word made up of two words, one Greek and one Hebrew, for it is pure Hebrew.
Jerome, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:1–9; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A scholar and monk who lived in Bethlehem and translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, Eastin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:19He came not because He was an hungred, but for His disciples’ sake; for because He ever did good and inflicted suffering on none, it behaved that He should set forth an example of His power of punishment; and this He would not exert upon man, but upon a plant. … And when aught of this kind is done to brutes or vegetables, ask not whether the fig were with justice withered up, seeing it was not the season for its fruit; for to enquire thus were extreme madness, for in such creatures there can be neither fault nor punishment; but consider the miracle, and admire the Worker of it.
He came not because He was an hungred, but for His disciples’ sake; for because He ever did good and inflicted suffering on none, it behaved that He should set forth an example of His power of punishment; and this He would not exert upon man, but upon a plant. … And when aught of this kind is done to brutes or vegetables, ask not whether the fig were with justice withered up, seeing it was not the season for its fruit; for to enquire thus were extreme madness, for in such creatures there can be neither fault nor punishment; but consider the miracle, and admire the Worker of it.
John Chrysostom, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:17–22; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
Jeromec. 347–420Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:33–37Not a change of place, for God, by whom all things are filled, cannot be absent from any place; but He seems to be absent from the vineyard, that He may leave the vine-dressers a freedom of acting. … But when He says, "They will reverence my Son," He does not speak as in ignorance. For what is there that this householder (by whom in this place God is intended) knows not? But God is thus spoken of as being uncertain, in order that free-will may be reserved for man.
Not a change of place, for God, by whom all things are filled, cannot be absent from any place; but He seems to be absent from the vineyard, that He may leave the vine-dressers a freedom of acting. … But when He says, "They will reverence my Son," He does not speak as in ignorance. For what is there that this householder (by whom in this place God is intended) knows not? But God is thus spoken of as being uncertain, in order that free-will may be reserved for man.
Jerome, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:33–44; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A scholar and monk who lived in Bethlehem and translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate.
Rabanus Maurusc. 780–856Catholicin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:33–41Morally; a vineyard has been let out to each of us to dress, when the mystery of baptism was given us, to be cultivated by action. Servants one, two, and three are sent us when Law, Psalm, and Prophecy are read, after whose instructions we are to work well. He that is sent is beaten and cast out when the word is contemned, or, which is worse, is blasphemed. He kills (as far as in him lies) the heir, who tramples under foot the Son, and does despite to the Spirit of grace. The wicked husbandman is destroyed, and the vineyard is given to another, when the gift of grace which the proud has contemned is given to the lowly.
Morally; a vineyard has been let out to each of us to dress, when the mystery of baptism was given us, to be cultivated by action. Servants one, two, and three are sent us when Law, Psalm, and Prophecy are read, after whose instructions we are to work well. He that is sent is beaten and cast out when the word is contemned, or, which is worse, is blasphemed. He kills (as far as in him lies) the heir, who tramples under foot the Son, and does despite to the Spirit of grace. The wicked husbandman is destroyed, and the vineyard is given to another, when the gift of grace which the proud has contemned is given to the lowly.
Rabanus Maurus, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:33–44, the moral sense; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
Abbot of Fulda and archbishop of Mainz, a teacher of the church in Charlemagne’s lands.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Matthew 21:18–19But here lies the difficulty. How was he mistaken in seeking fruit on a tree that had none; more especially, when the season of fruit had not yet arrived? And again, Why was he so fiercely enraged against a harmless tree? But there would be no absurdity in saying, that as man, he did not know … the kind of tree; though it is possible that he approached it on purpose, with full knowledge of the result. Certainly it was not the fury of passion that led him to curse the tree, (for that would not only have been an unjust, but even a childish and ridiculous revenge;) but as hunger was troublesome to him according to the feeling of the flesh, he determined to overcome it by an opposite affection; that is, by a desire to promote the glory of the Father … He intended, however, to present in this tree an outward sign of the end which awaits hypocrites, and at the same time to expose the emptiness and folly of their ostentation.
But here lies the difficulty. How was he mistaken in seeking fruit on a tree that had none; more especially, when the season of fruit had not yet arrived? And again, Why was he so fiercely enraged against a harmless tree? But there would be no absurdity in saying, that as man, he did not know … the kind of tree; though it is possible that he approached it on purpose, with full knowledge of the result. Certainly it was not the fury of passion that led him to curse the tree, (for that would not only have been an unjust, but even a childish and ridiculous revenge;) but as hunger was troublesome to him according to the feeling of the flesh, he determined to overcome it by an opposite affection; that is, by a desire to promote the glory of the Father … He intended, however, to present in this tree an outward sign of the end which awaits hypocrites, and at the same time to expose the emptiness and folly of their ostentation.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 21:10–22; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Matthew 21:12–13He cast out all that sold and bought - Doves and oxen for sacrifice. He had cast them out three years before, John 2:14; bidding them not make that house a house of merchandise. Upon the repetition of the offence, he used sharper words. In the temple - That is, in the outer court of it, where the Gentiles used to worship. The money changers - The exchangers of foreign money into current coin, which those who came from distant parts might want to offer for the service of the temple. … A den of thieves - A proverbial expression, for a harbour of wicked men.
He cast out all that sold and bought - Doves and oxen for sacrifice. He had cast them out three years before, John 2:14; bidding them not make that house a house of merchandise. Upon the repetition of the offence, he used sharper words. In the temple - That is, in the outer court of it, where the Gentiles used to worship. The money changers - The exchangers of foreign money into current coin, which those who came from distant parts might want to offer for the service of the temple. … A den of thieves - A proverbial expression, for a harbour of wicked men.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 21:12–13; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brownpublished 1871Presbyterian and AnglicanA Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments · on Matthew 21:37In Mark (Mar 12:6) this is most touchingly expressed: "Having yet therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son." … Who does not see that our Lord here severs Himself, by the sharpest line of demarcation, from all merely human messengers, and claims for Himself Sonship in its loftiest sense? (Compare Heb 3:3-6). The expression, "It may be they will reverence My Son," is designed to teach the almost unimaginable guilt of not reverentially welcoming God's Son.
In Mark (Mar 12:6) this is most touchingly expressed: "Having yet therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son." … Who does not see that our Lord here severs Himself, by the sharpest line of demarcation, from all merely human messengers, and claims for Himself Sonship in its loftiest sense? (Compare Heb 3:3-6). The expression, "It may be they will reverence My Son," is designed to teach the almost unimaginable guilt of not reverentially welcoming God's Son.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, on 21:37; 1871; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Three ministers, two Scottish Presbyterians and an Irish Anglican, whose commentary on the whole Bible was written to be short and plain.
Matthew 21
Matthew 21:8–41, World English Bible
Matthew 21 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 48, The King Comes, Chapter 49, By What Authority?
What others have written
8 passages from writers of 3 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
Origenc. 185–253Early church, Eastin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:28–31Whence we may gather, that in this parable the Lord spoke to such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and against those who promise great things but do none of these things that they have promised.
Origen, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:28–32; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A teacher of Alexandria, the early church’s first great interpreter of the Bible; some of his ideas were later rejected by the church.
Jeromec. 347–420Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:8–9The multitudes that came out of Jericho, and followed the Saviour, cast down their garments, and strewed the way with branches of trees; and therefore it follows, "But the multitudes spread their garments in the way;" that is, beneath the feet of the ass, that it should not stumble against a stone, nor tread upon a thorn, nor fall into a ditch. … For that which the LXX give "Save now, O Lord;" we read in the Hebrew, ’Anna, adonai osianna,’ which Symmachus renders more plainly, "I pray thee, O Lord, save, I pray thee." Let none think that it is a word made up of two words, one Greek and one Hebrew, for it is pure Hebrew.
Jerome, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:1–9; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A scholar and monk who lived in Bethlehem and translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, Eastin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:19He came not because He was an hungred, but for His disciples’ sake; for because He ever did good and inflicted suffering on none, it behaved that He should set forth an example of His power of punishment; and this He would not exert upon man, but upon a plant. … And when aught of this kind is done to brutes or vegetables, ask not whether the fig were with justice withered up, seeing it was not the season for its fruit; for to enquire thus were extreme madness, for in such creatures there can be neither fault nor punishment; but consider the miracle, and admire the Worker of it.
John Chrysostom, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:17–22; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
Jeromec. 347–420Early church, Westin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:33–37Not a change of place, for God, by whom all things are filled, cannot be absent from any place; but He seems to be absent from the vineyard, that He may leave the vine-dressers a freedom of acting. … But when He says, "They will reverence my Son," He does not speak as in ignorance. For what is there that this householder (by whom in this place God is intended) knows not? But God is thus spoken of as being uncertain, in order that free-will may be reserved for man.
Jerome, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:33–44; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
A scholar and monk who lived in Bethlehem and translated the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate.
Rabanus Maurusc. 780–856Catholicin the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas) · on Matthew 21:33–41Morally; a vineyard has been let out to each of us to dress, when the mystery of baptism was given us, to be cultivated by action. Servants one, two, and three are sent us when Law, Psalm, and Prophecy are read, after whose instructions we are to work well. He that is sent is beaten and cast out when the word is contemned, or, which is worse, is blasphemed. He kills (as far as in him lies) the heir, who tramples under foot the Son, and does despite to the Spirit of grace. The wicked husbandman is destroyed, and the vineyard is given to another, when the gift of grace which the proud has contemned is given to the lowly.
Rabanus Maurus, in the Catena Aurea (the Fathers on the Gospels, gathered by Thomas Aquinas), on 21:33–44, the moral sense; translated under John Henry Newman (Oxford, 1841–1845); the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
Abbot of Fulda and archbishop of Mainz, a teacher of the church in Charlemagne’s lands.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Matthew 21:18–19But here lies the difficulty. How was he mistaken in seeking fruit on a tree that had none; more especially, when the season of fruit had not yet arrived? And again, Why was he so fiercely enraged against a harmless tree? But there would be no absurdity in saying, that as man, he did not know … the kind of tree; though it is possible that he approached it on purpose, with full knowledge of the result. Certainly it was not the fury of passion that led him to curse the tree, (for that would not only have been an unjust, but even a childish and ridiculous revenge;) but as hunger was troublesome to him according to the feeling of the flesh, he determined to overcome it by an opposite affection; that is, by a desire to promote the glory of the Father … He intended, however, to present in this tree an outward sign of the end which awaits hypocrites, and at the same time to expose the emptiness and folly of their ostentation.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 21:10–22; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Matthew 21:12–13He cast out all that sold and bought - Doves and oxen for sacrifice. He had cast them out three years before, John 2:14; bidding them not make that house a house of merchandise. Upon the repetition of the offence, he used sharper words. In the temple - That is, in the outer court of it, where the Gentiles used to worship. The money changers - The exchangers of foreign money into current coin, which those who came from distant parts might want to offer for the service of the temple. … A den of thieves - A proverbial expression, for a harbour of wicked men.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 21:12–13; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brownpublished 1871Presbyterian and AnglicanA Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments · on Matthew 21:37In Mark (Mar 12:6) this is most touchingly expressed: "Having yet therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son." … Who does not see that our Lord here severs Himself, by the sharpest line of demarcation, from all merely human messengers, and claims for Himself Sonship in its loftiest sense? (Compare Heb 3:3-6). The expression, "It may be they will reverence My Son," is designed to teach the almost unimaginable guilt of not reverentially welcoming God's Son.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, on 21:37; 1871; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
Three ministers, two Scottish Presbyterians and an Irish Anglican, whose commentary on the whole Bible was written to be short and plain.