Matthew 21 in the Unitarian Standard Version

 

Introducing the Unitarian Standard Version Bible

References Used in the Unitarian Standard Version

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                                                                             Textual changes in favor of the newer Greek Texts are underlined.

1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying unto them, Go into the village that is over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose [them], and bring [them] unto me. 3 And if any one say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord(a) hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 Now this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

5 Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, Meek, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass.

6 And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, 7 and brought the ass, and the colt, and put garments on them; and he sat thereon. 8 And the most part of the multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before him, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of [the] Lord(b); Hosanna in the highest. 10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? 11 And the multitudes said, This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.

12 And Jesus entered into the temple, and cast out all those selling and buying in the temple(c), and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves; 13 and he saith unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer: but ye are making it a den of thieves. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were moved with indignation, 16 and said unto him, Hearest thou what these are saying? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea: did ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise?(d) 17 And he left them, and went forth out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.

18 Now in the morning, returning to the city, he hungered. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he saith unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away. 20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How did the fig tree immediately wither away? 21 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. 22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? 24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one question, which if ye tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven(e) or from men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven(d); he will say unto us, Why then did ye not believe him? 26 But if we shall say, From men; we fear the multitude; for all hold John as a prophet. 27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We know not. He also said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. 28 But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. 29 And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went. 30 And he came to the other, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I [go], sir: and went not. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the tax-collectors(f) and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax-collectors(e) and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him.

33 Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenant farmers, and went into another country. 34 And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers, to receive his fruits. 35 And the tenant farmers took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. 37 But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But the tenant farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and have his inheritance. 39 And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those tenant farmers? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other tenant farmers, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,

The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the head of the corner;
This was from [the] Lord,(g)
And it is marvelous in our eyes?

43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 [And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust.](h) 45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46 And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, because they took him for a prophet.

Footnotes

(a) Lord, Greek: Kyrios/KURIOS. The word is used as a title of respect of men in authority, as well as the Divine. "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Php 2:11
(b) From Ps 118:26: "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah." (see Darby's Preface, Bullinger Appendix 98, NWT, Heinfetter, Bible Stories: Memorable Acts of the Ancient Patriarchs, Judges and Kings, Volume 2 by William Scolfield 1803 and ED)
(c) those selling and buying - TOUS PWLOUNTAS KAI AGORAZONTAS/tous polountas kai agorazontas. This is an example of an article-noun-kai-noun construction. According to Granville Sharp, when the definite article (the/tous) does not occur before the second noun then the two nouns are referring to the same person. This "rule" is then used to blur the lines between God and Savior at Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1. However, Matthew 21:12 provides a clear exception to this "rule." "Take an example from the New Testament. In Matt. xxi. 12 we read that Jesus 'cast out all those that were selling and buying in the temple,' TOUS PWLOUNTAS KAI AGORAZONTAS. No one can reasonably suppose that the same persons are described as both selling and buying. In Mark, the two classes are made distinct by the insertion of TOUS before AGORAZONTAS; here it is safely left to the intelligence of the reader to distinguish them. In the case before us, the omission of the article before AGORAZONTAS seems to me to present no difficulty, - not because SWTHROS is made sufficiently definite by the addition of HMWN (Winer), for, since God as well as Christ is often called "our Saviour," H DOXA TOU MEGALOU QEOU KAI SWTHROS HMWN, standing alone, would most naturally be understood of one subject, namely, God, the Father; but the addition of IHSOU CRISTOU to SWTHROS HMWN changes the case entirely, restricting the SWTHROS HMWN to a person or being who, according to Paul's habitual use of language, is distinguished from the person or being whom he designates as hO QEOS, so that there was no need of the repetition of the article to prevent ambiguity. So in 2 Thess. i. 12, the expression KATA THN CARIN TOU QEOU HMWN KAI KURIOU would naturally be understood of one subject, and the article would be required before KURIOU if two were intended; but the simple addition of IHSOU CRISTOU to KURIOU makes the reference to the two distinct subjects clear without the insertion of the article." Ezra Abbot
(d) Psalms 8:2 LXX
(e) NEB, REB, GNT has "God" here instead of heaven.
(f) KJV: Publicans. "In Jesus’ day, the land owners rented their land for farmers to grow crops. A portion of that crop or the money derived from the crop was paid back to the land owner with other portions going to the king (government) and even more to Caesar (Rome). To make matters worse, there was a temple tax (called the 10% tithe) to boot!  Tax collectors were detested in the days of Jesus." ~Bill Sardi
(g) Jehovah, from Psalm 18:22, 23 (See also Bullinger App. 98; Darby preface, Keys of the Kingdom Holy Bible-Kindle Edition, ED, Heinfetter
(h) Verse omitted by some Bibles and ancient texts.

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From Henry Ware (1832):

 'If the Apostles worshiped God in three persons, it will so appear in their conduct and writings; this circumstance will characterize their devout expressions everywhere. And this the more especially, because they were Jews, - a people who worshipped God with a strict and most jealous regard to his unity. They could not have changed their practice in this particular without the change being most strikingly observable. Yet we have no intimation of such a change. They appear to have gone on with the worship of the One God of their fathers, without any alteration. Look at this fact. When Paul was converted, he must have passed supposing the Trinity to be a christian doctrine from believing Jesus a blasphemous impostor, to believing him the Lord Jehovah. Is there the least hint of such an amazing change? He speaks with admiration and rapture of the new views and feelings which he enjoyed with his new faith. But all the rest together was not so astonishing and wonderful as this particular change. Yet he nowhere alludes to it. Is it then possible that it could have been so? that so great a revolution of feeling should have taken place, and no intimation of it be found in any act or expression? He speaks frequently of his prayers. And how? 'I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom.' It is plain therefore to whom Paul directed his worship. - His epistles contain many doxologies and ascriptions of praise to God. And in what terms? Always to One person, God the Father. And not once, either in his epistles, or in any other writing of the Bible, is a doxology to be found, which ascribes praise to Father, Son and Spirit, or to the Trinity in any form. This fact is worth remarking. The New Testament contains, I think, twenty-eight ascriptions in various forms; and from not one of them could you learn that the doctrine of the Trinity had been dreamt of in that day."