Matthew 21:28-22:14

New American Standard Bible 1995

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[a]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[b]Son, go work today in the ^(A)vineyard.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he 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 that ^(B)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[c]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(C)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(D)There was a ^[d]landowner who ^(E)planted a ^(F)vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[e]vine-growers and ^(G)went on a journey. ³⁴ When the ^[f]harvest time approached, he ^(H)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. ³⁵ The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Again he ^(I)sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the ^[g]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and ^(J)will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[h]people, producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ And ^(L)he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ When they sought to seize Him, they ^(M)feared the ^[i]people, because they considered Him to be a ^(N)prophet.

Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(O)The kingdom of heaven ^[j]may be compared to ^[k]a king who ^[l]gave a ^(P)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(Q)sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(R)sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own ^[m]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to ^(S)the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[n]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw ^(T)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(U)Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into ^(V)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[o](W)called, but few are ^(X)chosen.”