¹Then, using this illustration, Jesus spoke to them. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a vat for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.

²“At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to collect from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. ³The workers took the servant, beat him, and sent him back with nothing. ⁴So the man sent another servant to them. They hit the servant on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵The man sent another, and they killed that servant. Then he sent many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.

⁶“He had one more person to send. That person was his son, whom he loved. Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷“But those workers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹“What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the workers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you never read the Scripture passage:

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

¹¹The Lord has done this,

and it is amazing for us to see’?”

¹²They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them. So they left him alone and went away.

A Question about Taxes—Matthew 22:15–22; Luke 20:20–26

¹³The leaders sent some of the Pharisees and some of Herod’s followers to Jesus. They wanted to trap him into saying the wrong thing. ¹⁴When they came to him, they said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth. You don’t favor individuals because of who they are. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it right to pay taxes to the emperor or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”

¹⁵Jesus recognized their hypocrisy, so he asked them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a coin so that I can look at it.”

¹⁶They brought a coin. He said to them, “Whose face and name is this?”

They told him, “The emperor’s.”

¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”

They were surprised at his reply.

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