Mark 11:1-11

Contemporary English Version

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

(Matthew 21.1-11; Luke 19.28-40; John 12.12-19)

11 Jesus and his disciples reached Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. When they were getting close to Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ²He told them, “Go into the next village. As soon as you enter it, you will find a young donkey that has never been ridden. Untie the donkey and bring it here. ³If anyone asks why you are doing this, say, ‘The Lord^[a] needs it and will soon bring it back.’ ”

⁴The disciples left and found the donkey tied near a door that faced the street. While they were untying it, ⁵some of the people standing there asked, “Why are you untying the donkey?” ⁶They told them what Jesus had said, and the people let them take it.

⁷The disciples led the donkey to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on its back, and Jesus got on. ⁸Many people spread clothes on the road, while others spread branches they had cut from the fields.^[b]

⁹^(A) In front of Jesus and behind him, people went along shouting,

“Hooray!^[c]
God bless the one who comes
    in the name of the Lord!
¹⁰God bless the coming kingdom
    of our ancestor David.
Hooray for God
    in heaven above!”

¹¹After Jesus had gone to Jerusalem, he went into the temple and looked around at everything. But since it was already late in the day, he went back to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

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Footnotes

11.3 The Lord: Or “The master of the donkey.”
11.8 spread … branches from the fields: This was one way that the Jewish people welcomed a famous person.
11.9 Hooray: This translates a word that can mean “please save us.” But it is most often used as a shout of praise to God.