11On one of the days while 2He was teaching the people in the temple and 3preaching the gospel, the chiefpriests and the scribes with the elders4confronted Him,
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and they spoke, saying to Him, "Tell us by whatauthority You are doingthesethings, orwho is the one who gave You thisauthority?"
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Jesus answered and said to them, "I will alsoask you a question, and you tell Me:
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"Was the baptism of John from heavenor from men?"
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They reasonedamongthemselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why* did you not believe him?'
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"But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a 5prophet."
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So they answered that they did not knowwhere it came from.
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And Jesussaid to them, "Nor will I tell you by whatauthority I dothesethings."
Parable of the Vine-growers
96And He began to tell the peoplethisparable: "A manplanted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a longtime.
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"At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growersbeat him and sent him awayempty-handed.
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"And he proceeded to sendanotherslave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him awayempty-handed.
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"And he proceeded to send a third; and thisonealso they wounded and cast out.
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"The owner of the vineyardsaid, 'What shall I do? I will send my belovedson; perhaps they will 7respect him.'
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"But when the vine-growerssaw him, they reasoned with oneanother, saying, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.'
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"So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyarddo to them?
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"He will come and 8destroythesevine-growers and will give the vineyard to others."When they heard it, they said, "9May it never be!"
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But Jesus looked at them and said, "Whatthen is this that is written:'10THE STONEWHICH THE BUILDERSREJECTED,THISBECAME11THE CHIEFCORNER stone'?
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"12Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever* it falls, it will scatter him likedust."
Tribute to Caesar
19 The scribes and the chiefpriests13tried to layhands on Him that veryhour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spokethisparableagainst them.
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14So they watched Him, and sentspies who pretended to be righteous, in order15that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of 16the governor.
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They questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You speak and teachcorrectly, and You are not partial* to any, but teach the way of God in truth.
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"Is it lawful for us 17to paytaxes to Caesar, or not?"
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But He detected their trickery and said to them,
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"Show Me a denarius. Whoselikeness and inscription does it have?" They said, "Caesar's."
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And He said to them, "Then18render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
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And they were unable* to 19catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and beingamazed at His answer, they becamesilent.