1. Jesus then told them this story:A farmer once planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it and dug a pit to crush the grapes in. He also built a lookout tower. Then he let his vineyard and left the country.
2. When it was harvest time, he sent a servant to get his share of the grapes.
3. The tenants grabbed the servant. They beat him up and sent him away without a thing.
4. The owner sent another servant, but the tenants beat him on the head and insulted him terribly.
5. Then the man sent another servant, and they killed him. He kept sending servant after servant. They beat some of them and killed others.
6. The owner had a son he loved very much. Finally, he sent his son to the tenants because he thought they would respect him.
7. But they said to themselves, “Some day he will own this vineyard. Let's kill him! That way we can have it all for ourselves.”
8. So they grabbed the owner's son and killed him. Then they threw his body out of the vineyard.
9. Jesus asked, “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? He will come and kill those tenants and let someone else have his vineyard.
10. Surely you know that the Scriptures say,‘The stone that the builderstossed asideis now the most importantstone of all.
11. This is somethingthe Lord has done,and it is amazing to us.’ ”
12. The leaders knew that Jesus was really talking about them, and they wanted to arrest him. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they let him alone and left.
13. The Pharisees got together with Herod's followers. Then they sent some men to trick Jesus into saying something wrong.
14. They went to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. And you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”
15. Jesus knew what they were up to, and he said, “Why are you trying to test me? Show me a coin!”
16. They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”“The Emperor's,” they answered.
17. Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” The men were amazed at Jesus.