181Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.
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Seeing a lone2figtree by the road, He came to it and foundnothing on it exceptleavesonly; and He said to it, "Nolonger shall there ever* be any fruit from you." And at once the figtreewithered.
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Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the figtreewither all at once?"
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And Jesusanswered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, 3if you havefaith and do not doubt, you will not onlydowhat was done to the figtree, but evenif you say to thismountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.
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"And 4allthings you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Authority Challenged
235When He entered the temple, the chiefpriests and the elders of the peoplecame to Him 6while He was teaching, and said, "By whatauthority are You doingthesethings, and whogave You thisauthority?"
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Jesussaid to them, "I will alsoask you onething, whichif you tell Me, I will alsotell you by whatauthority I dothesethings.
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"The baptism of John was from what source, from heavenor from men?" And they began reasoningamongthemselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Thenwhy* did you not believe him?'
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"But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they allregardJohn as 7a prophet."
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And answeringJesus, they said, "We do not know." He alsosaid to them, "Neither will I tell you by whatauthority I dothesethings.
Parable of Two Sons
28"But what do you think? A manhadtwosons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, goworktoday in the 8vineyard.'
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"And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went.
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"The man came to the second and said the samething; and he answered, 'I will, sir '; but he did not go.
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"Which of the twodid the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesussaid to them, "Truly I say to you that 9the taxcollectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of Godbefore you.
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"For Johncame to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but 10the taxcollectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not evenfeelremorseafterward so as to believe him.
Parable of the Landowner
33"Listen to anotherparable. 11There was a landownerwho12PLANTED A 13VINEYARD AND PUT A WALLAROUND IT AND DUG A WINEPRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and 14went on a journey.
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"When the harvesttimeapproached, he 15sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.
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"The vine-growerstook his slaves and beatone, and killedanother*, and stoned a third.
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"Again he 16sentanother group of slaveslarger than the first; and they did the samething to them.
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"But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
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"But when the vine-growerssaw the son, they saidamongthemselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'
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"They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
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"Thereforewhen the owner of the vineyardcomes, what will he do to thosevine-growers?"
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They said to Him, "He will bringthosewretches to a wretchedend, and 17will rent out the vineyard to othervine-growerswho will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."
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Jesussaid to them, "Did you neverread in the Scriptures,'18THE STONEWHICH THE BUILDERSREJECTED,THISBECAME THE CHIEFCORNER stone;THISCAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES '?
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"Therefore* I say to you, the kingdom of God will be takenaway from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.
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"And 19he who falls on thisstone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever* it falls, it will scatter him likedust."
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When the chiefpriests and the Phariseesheard His parables, they understood that He was speakingabout them.
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When they sought to seize Him, they 20feared the people, because they considered Him to be a 21prophet.