Day 21
Matthew 21
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21:1 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.
21:3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and immediately he will send them."
21:4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."{Zechariah 9:9}
21:6 The disciples went, and did just as Jesus commanded them,
21:7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.
21:8 A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.
21:9 The multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna{"Hosanna" means "save us" or "help us, we pray."} to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"{Psalm 118:26}
21:10 When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
21:11 The multitudes said, "This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
21:12 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.
21:13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,'{Isaiah 56:7} but you have made it a den of robbers!"{Jeremiah 7:11}
21:14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
21:15 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,
21:16 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 babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?'"{Psalm 8:2}
21:17 He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
21:18 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
21:19 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.
21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
21:21 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.
21:22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
21:23 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?"
21:24 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.
21:25 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?'
21:26 But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet."
21:27 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.
21:28 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.'
21:29 He answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind, and went.
21:30 He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, 'I go, sir,' but he didn't go.
21:31 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 the Kingdom of God before you.
21:32 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.
21:33 "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 winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
21:34 When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
21:35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
21:36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
21:37 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
21:38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and seize his inheritance.'
21:39 So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
21:40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
21:41 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."
21:42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?'{Psalm 118:22-23}
21:43 "Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit.
21:44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust."
21:45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.
21:46 When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
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Romans 13
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13:1 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.
13:2 Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment.
13:3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same,
13:4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn't bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
13:5 Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God's service, attending continually on this very thing.
13:7 Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.
13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
13:9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not give false testimony," "You shall not covet,"{TR adds "You shall not give false testimony,"}{Exodus 20:13-15,17; Deuteronomy 5:17-19,21} and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."{Leviticus 19:18}
13:10 Love doesn't harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
13:11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
13:12 The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let's therefore throw off the works of darkness, and let's put on the armor of light.
13:13 Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
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Romans 14
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14:1 Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
14:2 One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
14:3 Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.
14:4 Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
14:5 One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
14:6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn't eat, to the Lord he doesn't eat, and gives God thanks.
14:7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's.
14:9 For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
14:11 For it is written, "'As I live,' says the Lord, 'to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.'"{Isaiah 45:23}
14:12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
14:13 Therefore let's not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion for falling.
14:14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
14:15 Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.
14:16 Then don't let your good be slandered,
14:17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
14:18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
14:19 So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
14:20 Don't overthrow God's work for food's sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.
14:21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
14:22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn't judge himself in that which he approves.
14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn't of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.
14:24 Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,
14:25 but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;
14:26 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
