16. And He would not permit anyone to carry any household equipment through the temple enclosure [thus making the temple area a short-cut traffic lane].
17. And He taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers. [Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11.]
18. And the chief priests and the scribes heard [of this] and kept seeking some way to destroy Him, for they feared Him, because the entire multitude was struck with astonishment at His teaching.
19. And when evening came on, He and His disciples, as accustomed, went out of the city.
20. In the morning, when they were passing along, they noticed that the fig tree was withered [completely] away to its roots.
21. And Peter remembered and said to Him, Master, look! The fig tree which You doomed has withered away!