Matthew 21:23-46

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

23 ¹And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him ²as he was teaching, and said, ³"By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

24 Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

25 The baptism of John, ⁴from where did it come? ⁵From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, ⁶'Why then did you not believe him?'

26 But if we say, 'From man,'⁷we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was ⁸a prophet."

27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

28 ⁹"What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in ¹⁰the vineyard today.'

29 And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he ¹¹changed 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, ¹²the tax collectors and ¹³the prostitutes go into ¹⁴the kingdom of God before you.

32 For John came to you ¹⁵in the way of righteousness, and ¹⁶you did not believe him, but ¹⁷the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward ¹⁸change your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

33 ¹⁹"Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ²⁰a vineyard ²¹and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and ²²leased it to tenants, and ²³went into another country.

34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants^[a] to the tenants ²⁴to get his fruit.

35 ²⁵And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and ²⁶stoned another.

36 ²⁷Again 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, ²⁸'This is the heir. Come, ²⁹let us kill him and have his inheritance.'

39 And they took him and ³⁰threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 ³¹When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

41 They said to him, ³²"He will put those wretches to a miserable death and ³³let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."

42 Jesus said to them, ³⁴"Have you never read in the Scriptures: ³⁵"'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;^[b] this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God ³⁶will be taken away from you and given to a people ³⁷producing its fruits.

44 And ³⁸the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and ³⁹when 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 ⁴⁰although they were seeking to arrest him, ⁴¹they feared the crowds, because they held him to be ⁴²a prophet.