1. And it happened that on one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes approached together with the elders
2. and said, saying to him, “Tell us, by what authority you are doing these things, or who is the one who gave you this authority?
3. And he answered and said to them, “I also will ask you a question, and you tell me:
4. The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?
5. And they discussed this with one another, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
6. But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
7. And they replied that they did not know where it was from.
8. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
9. And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time.
10. And at the proper time he sent a slave to the tenant farmers, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers sent him away empty-handed after beating him.
11. And he proceeded to send another slave, but they beat and dishonored that one also, and sent him away empty-handed.
12. And he proceeded to send a third, but they wounded and threw out this one also.
13. So the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’
14. But when the tenant farmers saw him, they began to reason with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will become ours!’