The Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And again Jesus ^(A)spoke to them in parables, saying,

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And ^(A)about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And ^(B)when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his ^(C)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and ^(D)the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ^(E)‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take ^(F)what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ^15 (G)Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or ^(H)do you begrudge my generosity?’^{[b] 16} So ^(I)the last will be first, and the first last.”

Return of an Unclean Spirit

⁴³ “When ^(A)the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through ^(B)waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and ^(C)the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this ^(D)evil generation.”

¹⁶ But he said to him, ^(A)“A man once ^(B)gave a great banquet and invited many.

¹⁰ he said, ^(A)“To you it has been given to know ^(B)the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so ^(C)that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

^33 (A)With many such parables he spoke ^(B)the word to them, ^(C)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them ^(D)without a parable, but ^(E)privately to his own disciples he ^(F)explained everything.

The Parable of the Two Sons

^28 (A)“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in ^(B)the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he ^(C)changed his mind and went. ³⁰ And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but 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, ^(D)the tax collectors and ^(E)the prostitutes go into ^(F)the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you ^(G)in the way of righteousness, and ^(H)you did not believe him, but ^(I)the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward ^(J)change your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

^33 (K)“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ^(L)a vineyard ^(M)and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and ^(N)leased it to tenants, and ^(O)went into another country. ³⁴ When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants^[a] to the tenants ^(P)to get his fruit. ^35 (Q)And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and ^(R)stoned another. ^36 (S)Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ^(T)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(U)let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and ^(V)threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ^40 (W)When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ They said to him, ^(X)“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and ^(Y)let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(Z)“Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God ^(AB)will be taken away from you and given to a people ^(AC)producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And ^(AD)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and ^(AE)when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”^[c]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And ^(AF)although they were seeking to arrest him, ^(AG)they feared the crowds, because they held him to be ^(AH)a prophet.

³ And ^(A)he told them many things in parables, saying: ^(B)“A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, ⁶ but ^(C)when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, ^(D)they withered away. ⁷ Other seeds fell among ^(E)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some ^(F)a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ^9 (G)He who has ears,^[a] let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And he answered them, ^(H)“To you it has been given to know ^(I)the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, ^(A)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(B)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(C)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old ^(D)wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”