Matthew 21:28-22:14

New American Standard Bible

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[a]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[b]Son, go work today in the ^(A)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(B)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[c]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(C)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[d]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(D)There was a ^[e]landowner who ^(E)planted a ^(F)vineyard and put a ^[f]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[g]vine-growers and ^(G)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[h]harvest time approached, he ^(H)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(I)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[i]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(J)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[k]people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And ^(L)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they ^(M)feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a ^(N)prophet.

Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(O)The kingdom of heaven ^[l]is like ^[m]a king who ^[n]held a ^(P)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(Q)sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(R)sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own ^[o]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. ⁷ Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go to ^(S)the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[p]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the ^[q]dinner guests, he saw ^(T)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(U)Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into ^(V)the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[r](W)called, but few are ^(X)chosen.”