Luke 20:1–26

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^1aAnd it happened that on one of the days while ^bHe was teaching the people in the temple and ^cproclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders ^dcame up to Him,

²and they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?”

³And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a ¹question, and you tell Me:

⁴“Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”

⁵And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’

⁶“But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a ^aprophet.”

⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

⁸And Jesus said to them, “Neither ¹will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-Growers

^9aAnd He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to ¹vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.

¹⁰“And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vine-growers sent him away empty-handed having beaten him.

¹¹“And he proceeded to send another slave; and when they beat him also and treated him shamefully, they sent him away empty-handed.

¹²“And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.

¹³“Now the ¹owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will ^arespect him.’

¹⁴“But when the vine-growers saw him, they were reasoning with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’

¹⁵“So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the ¹owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶“He will come and ^adestroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “^bMay it never be!”

¹⁷But when ¹Jesus looked at them, He said, “What then is this that is written:

‘^aThe stone which the builders rejected,

This has become ^bthe chief corner stone’?

¹⁸“^aEveryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹And the scribes and the chief priests ^atried to lay hands on Him that very hour, but they feared the people. For they understood that He spoke this parable against them.

^20aSo they watched Him, and sent spies who ¹pretended to be righteous, so ^bthat they might ²catch Him in some statement, in order to deliver Him to the rule and the authority of ^cthe governor.

²¹And they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You ¹are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.

²²“Is it ¹lawful for us ^ato pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³But He perceived their craftiness and said to them,

²⁴“Show Me a ¹denarius. Whose ²likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”

²⁵And He said to them, “Then ^arender to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶And they were unable to ^1acatch Him in a word in the presence of the people; and marveling at His answer, they became silent.