Matthew 21:23-22:14


23When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”
24Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one [1] thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?”
And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the [1] people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.”
He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28“But what do you think? A man had two [1] sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘[2] Son, go work today in the vineyard.’
29And 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 the tax collectors and prostitutes [1] will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
33“Listen to another parable. There was a [1] landowner who [b] planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to [2] vine-growers and went on a journey. 34When the [1]harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40Therefore when the [1] owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”
41They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42Jesus 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 [1] people, producing the fruit of it. 44And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. 46When they sought to seize Him, they feared the [1] people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2“The kingdom of heaven [1] may be compared to [2] a king who [3] gave a wedding feast for his son. 3And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4Again he 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.”’ 5But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own [1] farm, another to his business, 6and 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. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with [1] dinner guests.
11“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14“For many are [1] called, but few are chosen.”