Mark 10:13-12:12

English Standard Version

Let the Children Come to Me

^13 (A)And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples ^(B)rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ^(C)“Let the children come to me; ^(D)do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ^15 (E)Truly, I say to you, whoever does not ^(F)receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶ And ^(G)he took them in his arms and blessed them, ^(H)laying his hands on them.

The Rich Young Man

^17 (I)And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and ^(J)knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(K)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ^(L)‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, ^(M)all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, ^(N)looking at him, ^(O)loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, ^(P)sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ^(Q)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (R)Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ And Jesus ^(S)looked around and said to his disciples, ^(T)“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter ^(U)the kingdom of God!” ²⁴ And the disciples ^(V)were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ^(W)“Children, ^(X)how difficult it is^[a] to enter ^(Y)the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(Z)the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,^[b] “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus ^(AA)looked at them and said, ^(AB)“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” ²⁸ Peter began to say to him, “See, ^(AC)we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹ Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(AD)there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and ^(AE)for the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundredfold ^(AF)now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, ^(AG)with persecutions, and in ^(AH)the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But ^(AI)many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^32 (AJ)And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and ^(AK)Jesus was walking ahead of them. And ^(AL)they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, ^(AM)we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will ^(AN)condemn him to death and ^(AO)deliver him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴ And they will ^(AP)mock him and ^(AQ)spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And ^(AR)after three days he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

^35 (AS)And James and John, ^(AT)the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us ^(AU)whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, ^(AV)“What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us ^(AW)to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ^(AX)in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ^(AY)“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(AZ)to drink the cup that I drink, or ^(BA)to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, ^(BB)“The cup that I drink ^(BC)you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, ^(BD)you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, ^(BE)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(BF)prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. ^42 (BG)And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles ^(BH)lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But ^(BI)it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,^{[c] 44} and whoever would be first among you must be ^(BJ)slave^[d] of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but ^(BK)to serve, and ^(BL)to give his life as a ransom for ^(BM)many.”

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

^46 (BN)And they came to Jericho. And ^(BO)as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, ^(BP)a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was ^(BQ)Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ And many ^(BR)rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, ^(BS)“Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” ⁵⁰ And throwing off his ^(BT)cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ And Jesus said to him, ^(BU)“What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, ^(BV)“Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” ⁵² And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; ^(BW)your faith has ^(BX)made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(BY)Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to ^(BZ)Bethphage and Bethany, at ^(CA)the Mount of Olives, Jesus^[e] sent ^(CB)two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, ^(CC)on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many ^(CD)spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ^(CE)“Hosanna! ^(CF)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is ^(CG)the coming ^(CH)kingdom of ^(CI)our father ^(CJ)David! ^(CK)Hosanna ^(CL)in the highest!”

^11 (CM)And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, ^(CN)he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

^12 (CO)On the following day, when they came from Bethany, ^(CP)he was hungry. ^13 (CQ)And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for ^(CR)it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15 (CS)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(CT)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(CU)pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(CV)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(CW)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(CX)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(CY)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19 (CZ)And when evening came they^[f] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

^20 (DA)As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, ^(DB)“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have ^(DC)faith in God. ^23 (DD)Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^(DE)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ^(DF)doubt in his heart, but ^(DG)believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(DH)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(DI)believe that you ^(DJ)have received^[g] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(DK)you stand praying, ^(DL)forgive, ^(DM)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(DN)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[h]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (DO)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(DP)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(DQ)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(DR)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(DS)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(DT)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(DU)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(DV)a vineyard ^(DW)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(DX)leased it to tenants and ^(DY)went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant^[i] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ^3 (DZ)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (EA)Again ^(EB)he sent to them another servant, and ^(EC)they struck him on the head and ^(ED)treated him shamefully. ^5 (EE)And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶ He had still one other, ^(EF)a beloved son. ^(EG)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(EH)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(EI)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(EJ)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(EK)He will ^(EL)come and destroy the tenants and ^(EM)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (EN)Have you not read ^(EO)this Scripture:

¹² And ^(EQ)they were seeking to arrest him ^(ER)but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^(ES)left him and went away.