Matthew 21:33-22:14

Christian Standard Bible

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

³³ “Listen^(A) to another parable:^(B) There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.^(C) He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.^{(D) 34} When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. ³⁵ The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(E) 36} Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’^{(F) 39} So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

⁴¹ “He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”^(G)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; ^(I) but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”^[c]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,^(J) they knew he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.^(K)

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: ² “The kingdom of heaven^(L) is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.^{(M) 3} He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet,^(N) but they didn’t want to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’^(O)

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷ The king^[d] was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.^{(P) 9} Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’^{(Q) 10} So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.^{[e] 11} When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.^{(R) 12} So he said to him, ‘Friend,^(S) how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,^[f] and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”^(T)