17. Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples’?But you have made it a den of thieves.”
18. The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
19. When evening came, they went out of the city.
20. Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots.
21. Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22. Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.
23. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.
24. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.
25. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.” [
26. ]
27. They returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him
28. and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
29. Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
30. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
31. They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘[Then] why did you not believe him?’
32. But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet.
33. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”