NAS - Matthew 21:28-46

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, `Son, go work today in the 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 the tax collectors and prostitutes 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 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. There was a landowner who 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 vine-growers and went on a journey.³⁴"When the harvest time approached, he 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 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 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, `THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? ⁴³"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.⁴⁴"And 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 people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.