Matthew:21:23-46
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And when he was come into the temple ,
the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching ,
and said ,
By what authority doest thou these things ?
and who gave thee this authority ?
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And Jesus answered and said unto them ,
I also will ask you one thing ,
which if ye tell me ,
I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things .
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The baptism of John ,
whence was it ?
from heaven ,
or of men ?
And they reasoned with themselves ,
saying ,
If we shall say ,
From heaven ;
he will say unto us ,
Why did ye not then believe him ?
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But if we shall say ,
Of men ;
we fear the people ;
for all hold John as a prophet .
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And they answered Jesus ,
and said ,
We cannot tell .
And he said unto them ,
Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things .
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But what think ye ?
A certain man had two sons ;
and he came to the first ,
and said ,
Son ,
go work to day in my vineyard .
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He answered and said ,
I will not :
but afterward he repented ,
and went .
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And he came to the second ,
and said likewise .
And he answered and said ,
I go ,
sir :
and went not .
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Whether of them twain did the will of his father ?
They say unto him ,
The first .
Jesus saith unto them ,
Verily I say unto you ,
That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you .
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For John came unto you in the way of righteousness ,
and ye believed him not :
but the publicans and the harlots believed him :
and ye ,
when ye had seen it ,
repented not afterward ,
that ye might believe him .
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Hear another parable :
There was a certain householder ,
which planted a vineyard ,
and hedged it round about ,
and digged a winepress in it ,
and built a tower ,
and let it out to husbandmen ,
and went into a far country :
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And when the time of the fruit drew near ,
he sent his servants to the husbandmen ,
that they might receive the fruits of it .
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And the husbandmen took his servants ,
and beat one ,
and killed another ,
and stoned another .
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Again ,
he sent other servants more than the first :
and they did unto them likewise .
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But last of all he sent unto them his son ,
saying ,
They will reverence my son .
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But when the husbandmen saw the son ,
they said among themselves ,
This is the heir ;
come ,
let us kill him ,
and let us seize on his inheritance .
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And they caught him ,
and cast him out of the vineyard ,
and slew him .
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When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh ,
what will he do unto those husbandmen ?
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They say unto him ,
He will miserably destroy those wicked men ,
and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen ,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons .
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Jesus saith unto them ,
Did ye never read in the scriptures ,
The stone which the builders rejected ,
the same is become the head of the corner :
this is the Lord '
s doing ,
and it is marvellous in our eyes ?
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Therefore say I unto you ,
The kingdom of God shall be taken from you ,
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof .
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And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken :
but on whomsoever it shall fall ,
it will grind him to powder .
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And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables ,
they perceived that he spake of them .
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But when they sought to lay hands on him ,
they feared the multitude ,
because they took him for a prophet .