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Bible chapter guide
Matthew 21
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as crowds spread cloaks and branches and shout 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' He drives the traders out of the temple, curses a fruitless fig tree, and answers the chief priests with parables of two sons and the wicked tenants.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Matthew tells the entry into Jerusalem with two animals, a donkey and her colt, and quotes Zechariah to show why. The whole city is stirred and asks who this is, and the crowds answer that he is the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. In Matthew the cleansing of the temple follows straight on, and only Matthew adds that the blind and the lame came to Jesus there and were healed, while children shouted Hosanna and the chief priests took offence. Next morning the fig tree withers at once, and when the leaders question his authority he answers with two parables aimed at them: the two sons, found only in Matthew, and the tenants of the vineyard.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The Holy Week lab spreads this chapter over two days, following Mark's order. On Sunday, 'The entry into Jerusalem' rides down the Mount of Olives among cloaks and branches; step to 'Weeping over the city' for the view across the Kidron, a moment that comes from Luke. The stop's notes take up Matthew's donkey and colt. On Monday, 'Cleansing the Temple' sets the money changers' tables in the outer court beside the Royal Stoa, and the notes point out that Matthew tells the cleansing straight after the entry without marking a new day. The healings and the children's shouts of 21:14–16 are not shown. The Royal Stoa spot in the Temple Mount scene shows the great hall itself.
- The entry into Jerusalem · Holy Week in Jerusalem
- The entry into Jerusalem: Weeping over the city · Holy Week in Jerusalem
- Cleansing the Temple · Holy Week in Jerusalem
- The Royal Stoa · The Temple Mount
Questions people ask
Did Jesus ride one donkey or two?
Matthew mentions a donkey and her colt (21:2, 7); Mark, Luke and John speak of one young animal. A likely reading is that the mother came along with the colt Jesus rode, which had never been ridden, and Matthew names both to match the two lines of Zechariah 9:9, which speaks of a donkey and then of a colt.
What does 'Hosanna' mean?
It is a Hebrew cry meaning 'save, please', taken from Psalm 118:25; the crowd also shouts the next verse, about the one who comes in the Lord's name. By Jesus' time it seems to have been a shout of praise at the feasts as well as a prayer. Matthew's 'Hosanna to the son of David' (21:9) gives it a royal edge, and the chief priests heard it that way (21:15).
Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?
Matthew tells it in one piece: Jesus finds leaves but no fruit, speaks, and the tree withers at once (21:19); he then uses it to teach about faith and prayer (21:21–22). Mark splits the story around the cleansing, so that the barren tree comments on the temple. Most readers take it as an acted parable, like the signs of the prophets, rather than anger at a tree.
See it in the Labs
- Holy Week in JerusalemThe entry into Jerusalem · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
- Holy Week in JerusalemThe entry into Jerusalem: Weeping over the city · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
- Holy Week in JerusalemCleansing the Temple · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
Jesus rode a colt, and the people spread their cloaks and cut branches on the road ahead of him.
All four Gospels tell the entry.
- Textually stated
Matthew and John see in the entry Zechariah's promise of a king coming humble, riding on a donkey; the crowd's cry echoes Psalm 118.
- Textually stated
Mark alone keeps the words "of all nations" from Isaiah 56:7. The outer court was the one part of the temple Gentiles could enter.
Josephus and two surviving Greek inscriptions warn foreigners not to pass the barrier into the inner courts.
- Plausible
One animal or two?: Matthew mentions a donkey and her colt; Mark, Luke and John speak of one young animal. A likely reading is that the mother came along with the colt Jesus rode, and Matthew names both to match the two lines of Zechariah 9:9.
- Plausible
Which day, and how many times?: Mark says Jesus only looked around the temple on the evening of the entry and cleansed it the next day; Matthew and Luke tell the cleansing straight after the entry, without marking a new day. John tells a cleansing near the start of Jesus' ministry. Many readers see Matthew and Luke as shortening the sequence; for John, some see a second, earlier cleansing and others a story placed by theme.
- Plausible
The fig tree: Mark tells the fig tree in two parts around the cleansing, the cursing on Monday and the withered tree seen on Tuesday morning; Matthew tells it in one piece, with the tree withering at once. Mark's framing lets the barren tree comment on the temple.