the Fourth Week of Advent
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Murdock Translation
Matthew 21
1 And as he approached Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, by the side of the mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples;2 and said to them: Go into this village which is over against you, and directly ye will find an ass tied, and a colt with her. Untie and bring [fn] to me. 3 And if any man say ought to you, tell him, That they are needed by our Lord: and at once he will send them hither.4 Now this whole occurrence was, that so might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, saying:5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king cometh to thee, meek, and riding on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass.6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them.7 And they brought the ass and the colt. And they placed their garments on the colt, and set Jesus upon it.8 And a very great throng strewed their clothes in the path; and others cut branches from the trees, and cast them in the path.9 And the multitudes that went before him, and that followed after him, shouted and said: Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.10 And as he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in commotion; and they said, Who is this?11 And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet, who is from Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and expelled all them that bought and sold in the temple, and overset the counters of the money-brokers, and the seats of them that sold doves.13 And he said to them: It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of robbers.14 And there came to him in the temple the blind and the lame; and he healed them.15 And when the chief priests and Pharisees saw the wonderful things which he performed, and the children shouting in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, their indignation was excited.16 And they said to him: Hearest thou what these are saying? Jesus said to them: Yes. Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of children and infants thou hast acquired praise?17 And he left them, and retired out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
18 And in the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.19 And he saw a fig-tree by the way, and came to it and found nothing on it, except leaves only. And he said to it: There shall no more be fruit on thee for ever. And immediately the fig-tree withered.20 And the disciples saw [fn] , and admired, and said: How suddenly hath the fig-tree withered! 21 Jesus replied and said to them: Verily I say to you, That if there be faith in you, and ye shall not doubt, ye may not only do this thing of the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say to this mountain, be thou lifted up, and fall into the sea, it will be so.22 And whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, and shall believe, ye shall receive.
23 And when Jesus came to the temple, the chief priests and the Elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said to him: By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority?24 Jesus replied and said to them: I also will ask you one question, and if ye will tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.25 The baptism of John, from whence was it? From heaven, or from men? And they reasoned among themselves, and said: If we should say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why did ye not believe in him?26 And if we should say, From men; we are afraid of the multitude, for they all hold John as a prophet.27 And they answered, and said to him: We do not know. Jesus said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 But how appeareth it to you? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first and said to him, My son, go, labor to-day in the vineyard.29 And he answered and said, I am not willing. But afterwards he repented and went.30 And he came to the other, and said the same to him. And he answered and said: I [fn] , my lord, but did not go. 31 Which of these two performed the pleasure of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus said to them: Verily I say to you That publicans and harlots go before you into the kingdom of God.32 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and harlots believed him: and ye, after ye had seen [fn] , did not even then repent and believe in him.
33 Hear ye another similitude. A certain man, the lord of a house, planted a vineyard, and inclosed it with a hedge, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower in it, and leased it to cultivators, and removed to a distance.34 And when the time for the fruits arrived, he sent his servants to the cultivators that they might remit to him of the fruits of the vineyard.35 And the cultivators laid hold of his servants, and beat one, and stoned another and one they slew.36 And again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first; and they did the like to them.37 And at last he sent to them his son: for he said, Perhaps they will respect my son.38 But the cultivators, when they saw the son, said among themselves: This is the heir: Come; let us kill him, and retain his inheritance.39 And they laid hold of him, thrust him out of the vineyard, and slew him.40 When the lord of the vineyard, therefore, shall come; what will he do to those cultivators?41 They say to him: He will utterly destroy them; and will lease the vineyard to other cultivators, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.42 Jesus said to them: Have ye never read in the scripture, The stone which the builders rejected, hath become the head of the corner: this is from the Lord; and it is marvellous in our eyes?43 Therefore I say to you, That the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a people that will yield fruits.44 And whoever shall fall upon this stone, will be fractured; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will crush him to atoms?45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his similitudes, they understood that he spoke in reference to them.46 And they sought to apprehend him, but were afraid of the multitude, because they accounted him as a prophet.
