Matthew 20-22

New American Standard Bible

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like ^[a]a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^(B)vineyard. ² When he had agreed with the laborers for a ^[b]denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the ^[c]third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; ⁴ and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ And so they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the ^[d]sixth and the ninth hour, and did ^[e]the same thing. ⁶ And about the ^[f]eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ ⁷ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ “Now when ^(C)evening came, the ^[g]owner of the vineyard *said to his ^(D)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a ^[h]denarius. ¹⁰ And so when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; ^[i]but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the ^(E)scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘^(F)Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your ^(G)eye ^[j]envious because I am ^[k]generous?’ ¹⁶ So ^(H)the last shall be first, and the first, last.”

Death, Resurrection Foretold

^17 (I)As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the road He said to them, ¹⁸ “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man ^(J)will be ^[l]handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and they ^(K)will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify, and on ^(L)the third day He will be raised up.”

Request for Preferred Treatment

^20 (M)Then the mother of ^(N)the ^[m]sons of Zebedee came to ^[n]Jesus with her sons, ^(O)bowing down and making a request of Him. ²¹ And He said to her, “What do you desire?” She *said to Him, “Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine ^(P)shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left.” ²² But Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(Q)to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.” ²³ He *said to them, “^(R)My cup you shall drink; but to sit at My right and at My left is not Mine to give, ^(S)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(T)prepared by My Father.”

²⁴ And after hearing this, the other ten disciples became indignant with the two brothers. ^25 (U)But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them, and ^[o]those in high position exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It ^[p]is not this way among you, ^(V)but whoever wants to become ^[q]prominent among you shall be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave; ²⁸ just as ^(W)the Son of Man ^(X)did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His ^[r]life as a ransom for many.”

Sight for Those Who Are Blind

^29 (Y)As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. ³⁰ And two people who were blind, sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, ^(Z)have mercy on us, ^(AA)Son of David!” ³¹ But the crowd sternly warned them to be quiet; yet they cried out all the more, “Lord, ^(AB)Son of David, have mercy on us!” ³² And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³³ They *said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” ³⁴ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

The Triumphal Entry

21 ^(AC)When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at ^(AD)the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me. ³ And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.” ⁴ Now ^(AE)this ^[s]took place so that what was spoken through ^[t]the prophet would be fulfilled:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, ⁷ and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on ^[u]the cloaks. ⁸ Most of the crowd ^(AG)spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹ Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

¹⁰ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds were saying, “This is ^(AK)Jesus the prophet, from ^(AL)Nazareth in Galilee.”

Cleansing the Temple

^12 (AM)And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the ^(AN)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(AO)doves. ¹³ And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘^(AP)My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^(AQ)den of robbers.”

¹⁴ And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and ^(AR)He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “^[x]Hosanna to the ^(AS)Son of David,” they became indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘^(AT)From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” ¹⁷ And He left them and went out of the city to ^(AU)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18 (AV)Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a lone ^(AW)fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and ^[y]asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(AX)if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And ^(AY)whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

Authority Challenged

^23 (AZ)When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(BA)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[z]question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the ^[aa]people; for they all regard John as ^(BB)a prophet.” ²⁷ And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[ab]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[ac]Son, go work today in the ^(BC)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(BD)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[ad]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(BE)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[ae]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(BF)There was a ^[af]landowner who ^(BG)planted a ^(BH)vineyard and put a ^[ag]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[ah]vine-growers and ^(BI)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[ai]harvest time approached, he ^(BJ)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(BK)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[aj]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(BL)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[al]people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And ^(BN)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they ^(BO)feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a ^(BP)prophet.

Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(BQ)The kingdom of heaven ^[am]is like ^[an]a king who ^[ao]held a ^(BR)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(BS)sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(BT)sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own ^[ap]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. ⁷ Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go to ^(BU)the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[aq]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the ^[ar]dinner guests, he saw ^(BV)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(BW)Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into ^(BX)the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[as](BY)called, but few are ^(BZ)chosen.”

Poll-tax to Caesar

^15 (CA)Then the Pharisees went and ^[at]plotted together how they might trap Him ^[au]in what He said. ¹⁶ And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the ^(CB)Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and ^[av]do not care what anyone thinks; for You ^[aw]are not partial to anyone. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what do You think? Is it ^[ax]permissible to pay a ^[ay](CC)poll-tax to ^(CD)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their ^[az]malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the ^(CE)coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a ^[ba]denarius. ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” ²¹ They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “^(CF)Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² And hearing this, they were amazed; and ^(CG)they left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Sadducees

^23 (CH)On that day some ^(CI)Sadducees (who say ^(CJ)there is no resurrection) came to ^[bb]Jesus and questioned Him, ²⁴ saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘^(CK)If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up ^[bc]children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us; and the first married and died, and having no ^[bd]children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ It was the same also with the second brother, and the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, ^(CL)since you do not ^[be]understand the Scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(CM)marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ³² ‘^(CN)I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³ When the crowds heard this, ^(CO)they were astonished at His teaching.

^34 (CP)But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced ^(CQ)the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ And one of them, ^[bf](CR)a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘^(CS)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and ^[bg]foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘^(CT)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ^40 (CU)Upon these two commandments ^[bh]hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

^41 (CV)Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ⁴² “What do you think about the ^[bi]Christ? Whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “^(CW)The son of David.” ⁴³ He *said to them, “Then ^[bj]how does David ^[bk](CX)in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁵ Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ ^[bl]how is He his son?” ^46 (CZ)No one was able to offer Him a word in answer, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him any more questions.