October 21

Matthew 19:1 — 21:46

19 Now when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came to the frontiers of Judea across the Jordan. 2 Also, great crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him, intent on tempting him and saying: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on every sort of ground?” 4 In reply he said: “Did YOU not read that he who created them from [the] beginning made them male and female 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’? 6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked together let no man put apart.” 7 They said to him: “Why, then, did Moses prescribe giving a certificate of dismissal and divorcing her?” 8 He said to them: “Moses, out of regard for YOUR hardheartedness, made the concession to YOU of divorcing YOUR wives, but such has not been the case from [the] beginning. 9 I say to YOU that whoever divorces his wife, except on the ground of fornication, and marries another commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him: “If such is the situation of a man with his wife, it is not advisable to marry.” 11 He said to them: “Not all men make room for the saying, but only those who have the gift. 12 For there are eunuchs that were born such from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs that were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs that have made themselves eunuchs on account of the kingdom of the heavens. Let him that can make room for it make room for it.”

13 Then young children were brought to him, for him to put his hands upon them and offer prayer; but the disciples reprimanded them. 14 Jesus, however, said: “Let the young children alone, and stop hindering them from coming to me, for the kingdom of the heavens belongs to suchlike ones.” 15 And he put his hands upon them and went from there.

16 Now, look! a certain one came up to him and said: “Teacher, what good must I do in order to get everlasting life?” 17 He said to him: “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is that is good. If, though, you want to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.” 18 He said to him: “Which ones?” Jesus said: “Why, You must not murder, You must not commit adultery, You must not steal, You must not bear false witness, 19 Honor [your] father and [your] mother, and, You must love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him: “I have kept all these; what yet am I lacking?” 21 Jesus said to him: “If you want to be perfect, go sell your belongings and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.” 22 When the young man heard this saying, he went away grieved, for he was holding many possessions. 23 But Jesus said to his disciples: “Truly I say to YOU that it will be a difficult thing for a rich man to get into the kingdom of the heavens. 24 Again I say to YOU, It is easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard that, they expressed very great surprise, saying: “Who really can be saved?” 26 Looking them in the face, Jesus said to them: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Then Peter said to him in reply: “Look! We have left all things and followed you; what actually will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to YOU, In the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, YOU who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone that has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive many times more and will inherit everlasting life.

30 “But many that are first will be last and the last first.

20 “For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the workers for a denarius a day, he sent them forth into his vineyard. 3 Going out also about the third hour, he saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace; 4 and to those he said, ‘YOU also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is just I will give YOU.’ 5 So off they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. 6 Finally, about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have YOU been standing here all day unemployed?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘YOU too go into the vineyard.’

8 “When it became evening, the master of the vineyard said to his man in charge, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, proceeding from the last to the first.’ 9 When the eleventh-hour men came, they each received a denarius. 10 So, when the first came, they concluded they would receive more; but they also received pay at the rate of a denarius. 11 On receiving it they began to murmur against the householder 12 and said, ‘These last put in one hour’s work; still you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’ 13 But in reply to one of them he said, ‘Fellow, I do you no wrong. You agreed with me for a denarius, did you not? 14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last one the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own things? Or is your eye wicked because I am good?’ 16 In this way the last ones will be first, and the first ones last.”

17 Being now about to go up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples off privately and said to them on the road: 18 “Look! We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 19 and will deliver him up to [men of] the nations to make fun of and to scourge and to impale, and the third day he will be raised up.”

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons, doing obeisance and asking for something from him. 21 He said to her: “What do you want?” She said to him: “Give the word that these my two sons may sit down, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus said in answer: “YOU men do not know what YOU are asking for. Can YOU drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him: “We can.” 23 He said to them: “YOU will indeed drink my cup, but this sitting down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten others heard of this, they became indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus, calling them to him, said: “YOU know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great men wield authority over them. 26 This is not the way among YOU; but whoever wants to become great among YOU must be YOUR minister, 27 and whoever wants to be first among YOU must be YOUR slave. 28 Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.”

29 Now as they were going out of Jericho a great crowd followed him. 30 And, look! two blind men sitting beside the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 But the crowd sternly told them to keep silent; yet they cried all the louder, saying: “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 So Jesus stopped, called them and said: “What do YOU want me to do for YOU?” 33 They said to him: “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 Moved with pity, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they received sight, and they followed him.


21 Well, when they got close to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent forth two disciples, 2 saying to them: “Be on YOUR way into the village that is within sight of YOU, and YOU will at once find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 And if someone says anything to YOU, YOU must say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ At that he will immediately send them forth.”

4 This actually took place that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, saying: 5 “TELL the daughter of Zion, ‘Look! Your King is coming to you, mild-tempered, and mounted upon an ass, yes, upon a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.’”

6 So the disciples got on their way and did just as Jesus ordered them. 7 And they brought the ass and its colt, and they put upon these their outer garments, and he seated himself upon them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 As for the crowds, those going ahead of him and those following kept crying out: “Save, we pray, the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name! Save him, we pray, in the heights above!”

10 Now when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was set in commotion, saying: “Who is this?” 11 The crowds kept telling: “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee!”

12 And Jesus entered into the temple and threw out all those selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 And he said to them: “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but YOU are making it a cave of robbers.” 14 Also, blind and lame persons came up to him in the temple, and he cured them.

15 When the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things he did and the boys that were crying out in the temple and saying: “Save, we pray, the Son of David!” they became indignant 16 and said to him: “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them: “Yes. Did YOU never read this, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have furnished praise’?” 17 And leaving them behind he went outside the city to Bethany and passed the night there.

18 While returning to the city early in the morning, he got hungry. 19 And he caught sight of a fig tree by the road and went to it, but he found nothing on it except leaves only, and he said to it: “Let no fruit come from you anymore forever.” And the fig tree withered instantly. 20 But when the disciples saw this, they wondered, saying: “How is it that the fig tree withered instantly?” 21 In answer Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to YOU, If only YOU have faith and do not doubt, not only will YOU do what I did to the fig tree, but also if YOU say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And all the things YOU ask in prayer, having faith, YOU will receive.”

23 Now after he went into the temple, the chief priests and the older men of the people came up to him while he was teaching and said: “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24 In reply Jesus said to them: “I, also, will ask YOU one thing. If YOU tell it to me, I also will tell YOU by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism by John, from what source was it? From heaven or from men?” But they began to reason among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did YOU not believe him?’ 26 If, though, we say, ‘From men,’ we have the crowd to fear, for they all hold John as a prophet.” 27 So in answer to Jesus they said: “We do not know.” He, in turn, said to them: “Neither am I telling YOU by what authority I do these things.

28 “What do YOU think? A man had two children. Going up to the first, he said, ‘Child, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 In answer this one said, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go out. 30 Approaching the second, he said the same. In reply this one said, ‘I will not.’ Afterwards he felt regret and went out. 31 Which of the two did the will of [his] father?” They said: “The latter.” Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to YOU that the tax collectors and the harlots are going ahead of YOU into the kingdom of God. 32 For John came to YOU in a way of righteousness, but YOU did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and the harlots believed him, and YOU, although YOU saw [this], did not feel regret afterwards so as to believe him.

33 “Hear another illustration: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and erected a tower, and let it out to cultivators, and traveled abroad. 34 When the season of the fruits came around, he dispatched his slaves to the cultivators to get his fruits. 35 However, the cultivators took his slaves, and one they beat up, another they killed, another they stoned. 36 Again he dispatched other slaves, more than the first, but they did the same to these. 37 Lastly he dispatched his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 On seeing the son the cultivators said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance!’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those cultivators?” 41 They said to him: “Because they are evil, he will bring an evil destruction upon them and will let out the vineyard to other cultivators, who will render him the fruits when they become due.”

42 Jesus said to them: “Did YOU never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected is the one that has become the chief cornerstone. From Jehovah this has come to be, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 This is why I say to YOU, The kingdom of God will be taken from YOU and be given to a nation producing its fruits. 44 Also, the person falling upon this stone will be shattered. As for anyone upon whom it falls, it will pulverize him.”

45 Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees had heard his illustrations, they took note that he was speaking about them. 46 But, although they were seeking to seize him, they feared the crowds, because these held him to be a prophet.