Jesus Enters Jerusalem Like a King^(A)

21 Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem. But first they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers into town. ² He said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a donkey with her colt. Untie them both, and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, tell them, ‘The Master needs them. He will send them back soon.’”

⁴ This showed the full meaning of what the prophet said:

⁶ The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. ⁷ They brought the mother donkey and the young donkey to him. They covered the donkeys with their coats, and Jesus sat on them. ⁸ On the way to Jerusalem, many people spread their coats on the road for Jesus. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Some of the people were walking ahead of Jesus. Others were walking behind him. They all shouted,

¹⁰ Then Jesus went into Jerusalem. All the people in the city were confused. They asked, “Who is this man?”

¹¹ The crowds following Jesus answered, “This is Jesus. He is the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Enters Jerusalem Like a King^(A)

11 Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem. They came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. There Jesus sent two of his followers to do something. ² He said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a young donkey that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkey, tell them, ‘The Master needs it. He will send it back soon.’”

⁴ The followers went into the town. They found a young donkey tied in the street near the door of a house, and they untied it. ⁵ Some people were standing there and saw this. They asked, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that donkey?” ⁶ The followers answered the way Jesus told them, and the people let them take the donkey.

⁷ The followers brought the donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on it, and Jesus sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their coats on the road for Jesus. Others cut branches in the fields and spread the branches on the road. ⁹ Some of them were walking ahead of Jesus. Others were walking behind him. Everyone shouted,

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the Temple. He looked at everything in the Temple area, but it was already late. So he went to Bethany with the twelve apostles.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem Like a King^(A)

¹² The next day the people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus was coming there. These were the crowds of people who had come to the Passover festival. ¹³ They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Jesus. They shouted,

¹⁴ Jesus found a donkey and rode on it, as the Scriptures say,

¹⁶ The followers of Jesus did not understand at that time what was happening. But after he was raised to glory, they understood that this was written about him. Then they remembered that they had done these things for him.

¹⁷ There were many people with Jesus when he raised Lazarus from death and told him to come out of the tomb. Now they were telling others about what Jesus did. ¹⁸ That’s why so many people went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign he did. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to each other, “Look! Our plan is not working. The people are all following him!”