The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’^(A)

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors^(B) and the prostitutes^(C) are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,^(D) and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors^(E) and the prostitutes^(F) did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent^(G) and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants^(H)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^(I) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^(J) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^(K)

² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹ He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed.

⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love;^(A) perhaps they will respect him.’

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(A) Come, let’s kill him^(B) and take his inheritance.’^{(C) 39} So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”^(D) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(E) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

¹⁶ He will come and kill those tenants^(A) and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

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

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^(B) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[b](C)

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.^(D)

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd;^(A) so they left him and went away.^(B)