231When He entered the temple, the chiefpriests and the elders of the peoplecame to Him 2while 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 3a 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 4vineyard.'
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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 5the 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 6the 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. 7There was a landownerwho8PLANTED A 9VINEYARD AND PUT A WALLAROUND IT AND DUG A WINEPRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and 10went on a journey.
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"When the harvesttimeapproached, he 11sent 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 12sentanother 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 13will 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,'14THE 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 15he 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 16feared the people, because they considered Him to be a 17prophet.