Luke 20:1-19

1On one of the days, as Jesus was instructing the people in the temple [area] and preaching the good news (gospel), the chief priests and the scribes along with the elders confronted Him,

2and said to Him, “Tell us by what kind of authority You are doing these things? Or who is the one who gave You this authority?”

3Jesus replied, “I will also ask you a question. You tell Me:

4The baptism of John [the Baptist]—was it from heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men?”

5They discussed and debated it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’

6But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are firmly convinced that John was a prophet.”

7So they replied that they did not know from where it came.

8Then Jesus said to them, “Nor am I telling you by what [kind of] authority I do these things.”

9Then 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 [to another country].

10At harvest time he sent a servant [as his representative] to the tenants, so that they would give him his share of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.

11So he again sent another servant; they also beat him and dishonored and treated him disgracefully and sent him away empty-handed.

12And he sent yet a third; and this one too they wounded and threw out [of the vineyard].

13Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will have respect for him.’

14But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves, saying, ‘This [man] is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’

15So they threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

16He will come and put these tenants to death and will give the vineyard to others.” When the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders heard this, they said, “May it never be!”

17But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is [the meaning of] this that is written: ‘The [very] Stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief Cornerstone’?

18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken and shattered in pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

19The scribes and the chief priests tried to [find a way to] arrest Him at that very hour, but they were afraid of the people; because they understood that He spoke this parable against them.