²⁸ and asked him, “By what authority^(A) are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?”

²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question;^(B) then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was John’s baptism^(C) from heaven or of human origin? Answer me.”

³¹ They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe^(D) him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘Of human origin’”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet.^{(E) 33} So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

12 He^(A) began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard,^(B) put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. ² At harvest time he sent^(C) a servant^(D) to the farmers to collect some of the fruit^(E) of the vineyard from them. ³ But they took him, beat^(F) him, and sent him away empty-handed.^{(G) 4} Again he sent another servant to them, and they^[a] hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.^{[b] 5} Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. ⁶ He still had one to send, a beloved^(H) son. Finally^(I) he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What then will the owner^[c](J) of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this Scripture:^(K)

¹² They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.