Chronological Plan

¹When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples

²and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.

³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’”

⁴They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it,

⁵some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”

⁶They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.

⁷Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it.

⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

⁹Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹²On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

¹³Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves;

¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

¹⁷He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

¹⁸And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.

¹⁹And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

²⁰In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

²¹Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

²²Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

²³Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.

²⁴So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

²⁵“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

²⁶

²⁷Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him

²⁸and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?”

²⁹Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.”

³¹They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

³²But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” — they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet.

³³So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

¹Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

²There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

³Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,

⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”

⁶(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

⁷Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.

⁸You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

⁹When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well,

¹¹since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

¹²The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord — the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:

¹⁵“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

¹⁷So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.

¹⁸It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.

¹⁹The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

³⁴The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.

³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” The Unbelief of the People After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

³⁷Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.

³⁸This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

³⁹And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,

⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;

⁴³for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.

⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.

⁴⁷I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge,

⁴⁹for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak.

⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”