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) 34} When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^(L) to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(M) 36} Then he sent other servants^(N) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(O) Come, let’s kill him^(P) and take his inheritance.’^{(Q) 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,”^(R) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(S) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

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^(U) 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](V)

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.^(W)