²³And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” ²⁴Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the multitude; for all hold that John was a prophet.” ²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented and went. ³⁰And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. ³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.

³³“Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. ³⁴When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; ³⁵and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. ³⁷Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The very stone which the builders rejected

has become the head of the corner;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but when it falls on any one, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶But when they tried to arrest him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet.

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