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aOn one of the days while bHe was teaching the people in the temple and cpreaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders dconfronted Him,
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and they spoke, saying to Him, "Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?"
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Jesus answered and said to them, "I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me:
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"Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?"
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They reasoned among themselves, 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 aprophet."
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So they answered that they did not know where it came from.
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And Jesus said to them, "Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
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aAnd He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.
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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-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
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"And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.
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"And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out.
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"The owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will arespect him.'
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"But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, 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 vineyard do to them?
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"He will come and adestroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard it, they said, "bMay it never be!"
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But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.