Matthew 21:28-38

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 ¹vineyard.'

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 ²the 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 ³the 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. ⁴There was a landowner who ⁵PLANTED A ⁶VINEYARD 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 ⁷went on a journey.

34 "When the harvest time approached, he ⁸sent 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 ⁹sent 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.'

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Cross References 9

1. Matthew 20:1; Matthew 21:33
2. Luke 7:29, 37-50
3. Luke 3:12; Luke 7:29
4. Matthew 21:33-46: {Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19}
5. Isaiah 5:1, 2
6. Matthew 20:1; Matthew 21:28
7. Matthew 25:14
8. Matthew 22:3
9. Matthew 22:4

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "children"
[b]. Lit "Child"
[c]. Lit "are getting into"
[d]. Lit "a man, head of a household"
[e]. Or "tenant farmers," also vv 34, 35, 38, 40
[f]. Lit "the fruit season"