Mark 11: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a young donkey while crowds spread cloaks and branches and shout blessings on the coming kingdom of David. The next day he curses a fig tree that has no fruit, then drives the sellers and money changers out of the temple, and the chief priests and scribes look for a way to kill him. When the disciples see the tree withered, Jesus tells them to have faith in God, and speaks about prayer and forgiveness. Back in the temple, the leaders ask by what authority he acts, and he refuses to answer after they will not say where John's baptism came from.

Claim by Claim

1. 11:1
   • They came near to Jerusalem.
   • They came to Bethphage and Bethany.
   • Bethphage and Bethany are at the Mount of Olives.
   • Jesus sent out two of his disciples.
2. 11:2
   • Jesus told the two disciples to go into the village opposite them.
   • Jesus said that as soon as they entered the village they would find a colt tied.
   • Jesus said no one had ever sat on that colt.
   • Jesus told them to untie the colt.
   • Jesus told them to bring the colt to him.
3. 11:3
   • Jesus said that if anyone asked them why they were doing this, they should answer that the Lord has need of the colt.
   • Jesus said that immediately he will send the colt here, leaving unclear whether the sender is the Lord returning it or the owner releasing it.
4. 11:4
   • The two disciples went.
   • They found the colt tied at a door outside.
   • The place was where two ways met, an open street.
   • They untied the colt.
5. 11:5
   • Some who were standing there spoke to them.
   • Those bystanders asked what they were doing, untying the colt.
6. 11:6
   • The disciples answered just as Jesus had commanded.
   • The bystanders let them go.
7. 11:7
   • They brought the colt to Jesus.
   • They threw their garments on the colt.
   • Jesus sat on the colt.
8. 11:8
   • Many spread their garments on the road.
   • Others cut branches from the trees.
   • Others scattered the branches on the road.
9. 11:9
   • Those who went ahead and those who followed cried out.
   • They cried, Hosanna.
   • They said, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
10. 11:10
    • They said, Blessed be the kingdom of our father David.
    • They said that kingdom comes in the name of the Lord.
    • They said, Hosanna in the highest.
11. 11:11
    • Jesus entered Jerusalem.
    • Jesus went into the temple.
    • Jesus looked around at everything.
    • Evening had already come.
    • Jesus went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12. 11:12
    • On the next day they came out from Bethany.
    • Jesus was hungry.
13. 11:13
    • Jesus saw a fig tree from far off.
    • The fig tree had leaves.
    • Jesus went to it to see whether he might find anything on it.
    • When he reached it he found nothing but leaves.
    • It was not the season for figs.
14. 11:14
    • Jesus spoke to the fig tree.
    • Jesus said that no one should ever eat fruit from it again.
    • His disciples heard him say it.
15. 11:15
    • They came to Jerusalem.
    • Jesus went into the temple.
    • Jesus began to drive out those selling in the temple.
    • Jesus began to drive out those buying in the temple.
    • Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers.
    • Jesus overturned the seats of those selling doves.
16. 11:16
    • Jesus would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.
17. 11:17
    • Jesus taught them.
    • Jesus asked whether it is not written that his house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.
    • Jesus said they had made it a den of robbers.
18. 11:18
    • The scribes and chief priests heard this.
    • They sought a way to destroy him.
    • They feared him.
    • All the people were astonished at his teaching.
19. 11:19
    • When evening came, he went out of the city.
20. 11:20
    • In the morning they passed by the fig tree.
    • They saw the fig tree dried up from its roots.
21. 11:21
    • Peter remembered what had happened.
    • Peter called Jesus Master.
    • Peter said the fig tree Jesus cursed had withered.
22. 11:22
    • Jesus answered them.
    • Jesus said to have faith in God.
23. 11:23
    • Jesus said truly to them.
    • Jesus spoke of whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea.
    • Jesus specified that the person does not doubt in his heart.
    • Jesus specified that the person believes what he says will come to pass.
    • Jesus said such a person shall have whatever he says.
24. 11:24
    • Jesus said therefore to them.
    • Jesus spoke of whatever things they desire when they pray.
    • Jesus told them to believe that they receive those things.
    • Jesus said they shall have them.
25. 11:25
    • Jesus spoke of when they stand praying.
    • Jesus told them to forgive if they have anything against anyone.
    • Jesus said the purpose is that their Father in heaven may forgive them their trespasses.
    • Jesus said their Father is in heaven.
26. 11:26
    • Jesus said that if they do not forgive, their Father in heaven will not forgive their trespasses.
27. 11:27
    • They came again to Jerusalem.
    • Jesus was walking in the temple.
    • The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him.
28. 11:28
    • They asked him by what authority he does these things.
    • They asked who gave him this authority to do these things.
29. 11:29
    • Jesus answered them.
    • Jesus said he would also ask them one question.
    • Jesus told them to answer him.
    • Jesus said that then he would tell them by what authority he does these things.
30. 11:30
    • Jesus asked whether the baptism of John was from heaven or from men.
    • Jesus told them to answer him.
31. 11:31
    • They reasoned among themselves.
    • They said that if they answered From heaven, he would ask why then they did not believe John.
32. 11:32
    • They considered saying, From men.
    • They feared the people.
    • All the people held that John was indeed a prophet.
33. 11:33
    • They answered Jesus that they could not tell.
    • Jesus answered them.
    • Jesus said he would not tell them by what authority he does these things.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1

Bethphage and Bethany were villages on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, a ridge lying about a mile east of Jerusalem and separated from the city by the Kidron Valley. Pilgrims coming up from Jericho arrived by this road, and from the crest of the ridge the temple was in full view below.

11:2

The word translated "colt" means a young donkey. That it had never been ridden is not a note on its age: an animal that had never been put to ordinary work was the kind considered fit to be set apart for a sacred purpose.

11:3

The King James "and straightway he will send him hither" is as ambiguous as the Greek behind it. It can mean the owner will let the animal go at once, or that Jesus will send it back promptly. Translators divide on which is meant.

11:4

The King James "in a place where two ways met" renders a word for the open street running between or around the houses. The point is that the animal was tied up outside in a public place, not inside a private courtyard.

11:7

"Garments" are the heavy outer cloaks worn over the rest of a person's clothes, which also served as a blanket at night. Thrown over the animal's back they made a rough saddle.

11:8

"Strawed" is an old form of "strewed," meaning scattered or spread out; it has nothing to do with straw. Spreading cloaks and branches in the road was a gesture of honor offered to a king: when Jehu was proclaimed king in 2 Kings 9:13, his officers spread their garments under him.

11:9

"Hosanna" is Hebrew for "save now" or "please save." It comes from Psalm 118:25, one of a group of psalms sung at the great pilgrim festivals, and by this period it had hardened into a shout of welcome and acclaim rather than a literal plea. The words that follow, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," are the next line of that same psalm, the greeting called out to pilgrims as they arrived at the temple.

11:10

David was Israel's greatest king, and calling him "our father" claims him as the ancestor of the nation and of its hoped-for ruler. "In the highest" means "in the highest heaven," that is, let the cry be taken up where God is.

11:11

The temple was not one building but a walled complex covering many acres, most of it open courtyards where people gathered, taught, traded and prayed. "Eventide" is simply evening. "The twelve" is Mark's regular shorthand for the twelve disciples Jesus had chosen.

11:13

Fig trees in that region put out leaves in spring at roughly the same time as small early figs, which are edible though not sweet, so a tree in full leaf with nothing at all on it was making a promise it could not keep. The main fig crop came months later, which is what "the time of figs was not yet" refers to. "If haply" means "in case" or "on the chance that."

11:14

"Answered" in the King James often means no more than "spoke up" or "responded," even when no question has been asked.

11:15

Money changers were in the temple because the temple tax and the purchase of offerings had to be paid in an approved coinage, so pilgrims arriving with ordinary Greek and Roman money had to exchange it, for a fee. Doves were the offering the law prescribed for those who could not afford a lamb, so the dove sellers were serving the poorest worshipers.

11:16

"Vessel" in 1611 English meant any container or piece of equipment, not just a cup or a dish. What is being stopped is people carrying goods across the temple courts, whether as merchandise or simply as a shortcut through the enclosure.

11:17

Two quotations are stitched together. "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer" is Isaiah 56:7, where "of all nations" means "for all nations," non-Jews included. "A den of thieves" is Jeremiah 7:11; the Greek word means a robber or bandit, a man of violence rather than a pickpocket, and a den is the hideout he retreats to, not the place where he does his robbing.

11:18

"Scribes" were the professional experts in the written law, who copied it, taught it and ruled on how it applied. "Chief priests" were the senior priestly families who ran the temple, including the serving high priest and men who had held the office before. "Doctrine" here means teaching, not a set of formal beliefs.

11:21

"Master" in the King James is a title for a teacher, not an owner. The word behind it is "Rabbi."

11:23

Moving a mountain was a common figure of speech for accomplishing the impossible. "This mountain" is spoken on the road over the Mount of Olives, within sight of it.

11:25

Standing was the ordinary posture for prayer, so "when ye stand praying" means simply "whenever you pray." "Ought" is an old spelling of "aught," meaning anything at all. "Trespasses" means offenses or wrongs committed, nothing to do with walking on someone's land.

11:26

This verse is absent from the oldest surviving Greek manuscripts of Mark and is widely thought to have been copied in by a later scribe from Matthew 6:15. Most modern translations omit it from the text or print it in a footnote, which is why some Bibles jump from verse 25 to verse 27.

11:27

Chief priests, scribes and elders together make up the three constituent groups of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem. "Elders" were the lay heads of leading families. Their arriving together marks this as an official delegation rather than a casual question.

11:28

This is a formal challenge about credentials. A teacher in this period was expected to be able to name the recognized teacher he had trained under, and anyone acting inside the temple would be expected to have the priesthood's backing.

11:30

John the Baptist had drawn crowds to the Jordan river shortly before and had since been executed by Herod Antipas. "From heaven" is a reverent way of saying "from God"; devout Jews commonly avoided speaking the name directly. The question is therefore whether John acted on God's authorization or on his own.

11:32

The sentence breaks off unfinished in the Greek as well. Mark lets them leave the dangerous half of the thought unspoken and then explains why: they did not dare say it out loud.

11:33

Answering a question with a counter-question was a recognized move in the debating style of the day, not simply dodging. By refusing to commit, the delegation loses the exchange on its own terms, and Jesus is under no obligation to answer.

Where the Manuscripts Differ

Worth knowing before you stand up: a listener following a modern translation may not have this verse in front of them.

11:26

Most modern translations leave this verse out. It is in the Greek text the King James translators worked from, but not in the older manuscripts found since, so scholars generally take it as a copyist’s addition rather than part of the original.