[1] Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. [2] At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. [3] But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. [4] Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. [5] He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. [6] “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ [7] “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ [8] So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. [9] “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. [10] Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; [11] the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” [12] Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. [13] Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. [14] They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? [15] Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” [16] They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. [17] Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
