King James Version · Under Rome
Matthew 21
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And when they drew nigh unto , and were come to Bethphage, unto , then sent two , Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the , saying, Tell ye the daughter of , Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And went, and did as commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in ; others cut down from the trees, and strawed them in . And the that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, to : is he that cometh in the name of ; in the highest. And when he was come into , all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And said, This is the of of . And went into of , and cast out all them that sold and bought in , and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold , And said unto them, , My house shall be called the house of ; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in ; and he healed them. And when the and saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in , and saying, to ; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected ? And he left them, and went out of the city into ; and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in , he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have , and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in , believing, ye shall receive. And when he was come into , the and the of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what doest thou these things? and who gave thee this ? And answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like will tell you by what I do these things. The of , whence was it? from , or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From ; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold as a . And they answered , and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what I do these things. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my . He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he , and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his ? They say unto him, The first. saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the and the harlots go into of before you. For came unto you in of , and ye him not: but the and the harlots him: and ye, when ye had seen it, not afterward, that ye might him. Hear another : There was a certain householder, which planted a , and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the ; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his . And they caught him, and cast him out of the , and slew him. When therefore of the cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those men, and will let out his unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. saith unto them, Did ye never read in , The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the : this is ’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, of shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the and had heard his , they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared , because they took him for a .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.