Mark 11 · WEB
The King Enters Jerusalem and Confronts the Temple
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
Tap a verse to copy it, open the Greek, or write a note.
When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples
2and said to them, "Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him.
3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs him;' and immediately he will send him back here."
4They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him.
5Some of those who stood there asked them, "What are you doing, untying the young donkey?"
6They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.
7They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it.
8Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road.
9Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
11Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.
13Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14Jesus told it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" and his disciples heard it.
15They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves.
16He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.
17He taught, saying to them, "Isn't it written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?' But you have made it a den of robbers!"
18The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
19When evening came, he went out of the city.
20As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
21Peter, remembering, said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away."
22Jesus answering said to them, "Have faith in God.
23For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says.
24Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.
25Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
26But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions."
27They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him,
28and they began saying to him, "By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?"
29Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
30The baptism of John—was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me."
31They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we should say, 'From heaven;' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
32If we should say, 'From men'"—they feared the people, for all held John to really be a prophet.
33They answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
✶
Summary
Jesus enters Jerusalem deliberately fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy of the humble King on a donkey, while crowds shout "Hosanna" and lay down cloaks and branches. He acts out a prophetic sign by cursing a fruitless fig tree and cleansing the temple of its commerce, declaring it must be a "house of prayer for all the nations." Returning the next day to find the fig tree withered, he teaches on mountain-moving faith and forgiving prayer, then silences the religious leaders who challenge his authority by exposing their cowardice over John's baptism.
Themes
- The humble Messianic King
- Judgment on fruitless religion
- Temple as a house of prayer for all nations
- Faith, prayer, and forgiveness intertwined
- True versus evasive authority
Key verses
- Mark 11:17 — “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
- Mark 11:24 — “All things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.”
- Mark 11:25 — “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone.”
- Mark 11:9 — “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Context & background
Bethphage and Bethany are villages on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem in modern Israel; the Mount overlooks the Temple Mount across the Kidron Valley. Riding an unridden colt fulfilled Zechariah 9:9 and signaled royal claim. The temple's outer Court of the Gentiles—the only place non-Jews could pray—had been turned into a noisy market for sacrificial animals and currency exchange (only Tyrian shekels were accepted for the temple tax). Mark, writing for Romans around AD 60-65, frames Jesus' three days in Jerusalem as a deliberate confrontation that triggered the leaders' resolve to kill him.
Cross-references
- Hosea 9:10 — Israel's barrenness compared to a fig tree, behind Jesus' acted parable.
- Isaiah 56:7 — "My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
- Jeremiah 7:11 — "Den of robbers"—Jeremiah's temple sermon Jesus echoes.
- Psalm 118:25-26 — Source of "Hosanna" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
- Zechariah 9:9 — The king coming humbly, riding on a donkey.