Chapter 19

1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through the city.

2A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he could not see over the crowd because he was short.

4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.

5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I must stay at your house today.”

6Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Jesus gladly.

7Everyone who saw this began muttering, “He has gone to stay with a man known for doing wrong.”

8But Zacchaeus stood and said to Jesus, “Look, Lord, I am giving half of everything I own to the poor. If I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

9Jesus said to him, “Today God’s rescue has come to this home, because this man too belongs to Abraham’s family.

10For the Son of Man—Jesus’ title for himself—came to find and rescue those who were lost.”

11While the people were listening, Jesus went on to tell them a story. He was near Jerusalem, and they thought God’s reign was about to appear immediately.

12Jesus said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive royal authority and then return.

13Before leaving, he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten silver coins called minas, one to each. A mina was worth roughly three months’ wages. He told them, ‘Do business with these until I return.’

14But the people of his country hated him. They sent representatives after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’

15After receiving royal authority, the nobleman returned. He ordered the slaves who had received his money to be called in, so he could learn what they had earned through trading.

16The first came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more minas.’

17The nobleman replied, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy with something very small, you will have authority over ten cities.’

18The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more minas.’

19The nobleman told him, ‘You will be in charge of five cities.’

20Another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina. I kept it wrapped up in a cloth.

21I was afraid of you because you are a harsh man. You take what you did not put in and harvest what you did not plant.’

22The nobleman said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew that I am a harsh man, taking what I did not put in and harvesting what I did not plant?

23Then why did you not deposit my silver in a bank? When I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’

24Then he told those standing nearby, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

25They said, ‘Sir, he already has ten minas!’

26He replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more. But anyone who has nothing will lose even what little they have.

27As for these enemies of mine who did not want me to rule over them, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me.’”

28After saying this, Jesus went on ahead, traveling up to Jerusalem.

29As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ahead.

30He told them, “Go into the village across from you. As you enter it, you will find a young animal tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

31If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord Jesus needs it.’”

32The two disciples went and found everything just as Jesus had told them.

33As they were untying the young animal, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying it?”

34They replied, “The Lord Jesus needs it.”

35They brought it to Jesus, laid their cloaks on it, and helped Jesus get onto it.

36As he rode along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37When Jesus came near the road descending from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began rejoicing. In loud voices they praised God for all the powerful acts they had seen.

38They shouted, “God’s blessing rests on the king who comes with the Lord’s authority! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

39Some Pharisees, members of a strict Jewish religious movement, said to Jesus from within the crowd, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”

40Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these people become silent, the stones will cry out.”

41As Jesus came closer and saw Jerusalem, he wept over the city.

42He said, “If only you, even you, had understood on this day what would bring peace! But now it is hidden from your sight.

43Days are coming when your enemies will build siege walls around you. They will surround you and press in on you from every side.

44They will smash you to the ground, along with the people inside you. They will not leave one stone standing on another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to you.”

45Jesus entered the temple complex and began driving out those who were selling things there.

46He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have made it a hideout for robbers.”

47Jesus taught in the temple every day. But the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to kill him.

48Yet they could not figure out what to do, because all the people hung on his every word.