¹¹ Jesus is

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

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;^(C) so they left him and went away.^(D)

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.

⁶ For in Scripture it says:

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,^(C)

⁸ and,

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.^(G)

⁶ So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:^(A) ‘Not^(B) by might nor by power,^(C) but by my Spirit,’^(D) says the Lord Almighty.

⁷ “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground.^(E) Then he will bring out the capstone^(F) to shouts^(G) of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”

²⁰ built^(A) on the foundation^(B) of the apostles and prophets,^(C) with Christ Jesus himself^(D) as the chief cornerstone.^{(E) 21} In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple^(F) in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.^(G)

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

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

¹⁷ Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^(C)