Luke 20:1-19

1One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up

2and said to him, "Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority."

3He answered them, "I also will ask you a question. Now tell me,

4was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?"

5And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?'

6But if we say, 'From man,' all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet."

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

8And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

9And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

10When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

11And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

12And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.

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

14But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.'

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

16He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Surely not!"

17But he looked directly at them and said, "What then is this that is written: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'?

18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."

19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.