²³ And he having come to the temple, there came to him when teaching the chief priests and the elders of the people, saying, `By what authority dost thou do these things? and who gave thee this authority?'

²⁴ And Jesus answering said to them, `I will ask you -- I also -- one word, which if ye may tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things;

²⁵ the baptism of John, whence was it? -- from heaven, or from men?' And they were reasoning with themselves, saying, `If we should say, From heaven; he will say to us, Wherefore, then, did ye not believe him?

²⁶ and if we should say, From men, we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.'

²⁷ And answering Jesus they said, `We have not known.' He said to them -- he also -- `Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸ `And what think ye? A man had two children, and having come to the first, he said, Child, go, to-day be working in my vineyard.'

²⁹ And he answering said, `I will not,' but at last, having repented, he went.

³⁰ `And having come to the second, he said in the same manner, and he answering said, I [go], sir, and went not;

³¹ which of the two did the will of the father?' They say to him, `The first.' Jesus saith to them, `Verily I say to you, that the tax-gatherers and the harlots do go before you into the reign of God,

³² for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye did not believe him, and the tax-gatherers and the harlots did believe him, and ye, having seen, repented not at last -- to believe him.

³³ `Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.

³⁴ `And when the season of the fruits came nigh, he sent his servants unto the husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it,

³⁵ and the husbandmen having taken his servants, one they scourged, and one they killed, and one they stoned.

³⁶ `Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them in the same manner.

³⁷ `And at last he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son;

³⁸ and the husbandmen having seen the son, said among themselves, This is the heir, come, we may kill him, and may possess his inheritance;

³⁹ and having taken him, they cast [him] out of the vineyard, and killed him;

⁴⁰ whenever therefore the lord of the vineyard may come, what will he do to these husbandmen?'

⁴¹ They say to him, `Evil men -- he will evilly destroy them, and the vineyard will give out to other husbandmen, who will give back to him the fruits in their seasons.'

⁴² Jesus saith to them, `Did ye never read in the Writings, A stone that the builders disallowed, it became head of a corner; from the Lord hath this come to pass, and it is wonderful in our eyes.

⁴³ `Because of this I say to you, that the reign of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruit;

⁴⁴ and he who is falling on this stone shall be broken, and on whomsoever it may fall it will crush him to pieces.'

⁴⁵ And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard his similes, knew that of them he speaketh,

⁴⁶ and seeking to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, seeing they were holding him as a prophet.