Whatever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have
anything against anyone, so that your Father which is in heaven may
also forgive you your trespasses. If ye do not forgive, neither will
your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
In Jerusalem, as He was walking in the temple, there came to Him the
chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. They questioned Him and
said, By what authority do thou do these things? Who gave thee this
authority to do these things?
Jesus answered, I will also ask you a question. If you answer me, I
will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of
John from heaven or of men? They discussed this among themselves and
said, If we say, From heaven; He will say, Why then did ye not believe
him? But if we shall say, Of men; we must face the people who
considered John a prophet. Finally, they answered and said to Jesus,
We cannot tell. Jesus then said, Neither do I tell you by what
authority I do these things.
12 He began to speak to them by parables. A man planted a
vineyard. He set a hedge around it. He dug a place for the winevat and
built a tower. The man let it out to husbandmen and went into a far
country. At the end of the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen
to collect the fruit of the vineyard.
The husbandmen caught and beat up the servant. They sent him away
empty. The man sent another servant. They cast stones and wounded this
servant in the head. They shamefully handled him and sent him away.
The man sent another and they killed him as well as many others;
beating some, and killing some. Finally, the man sent his only son
whom he loved very much. He reasoned, They will respect my son. But
the husbandmen said, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and the
inheritance shall be ours. They took the son, killed him, and cast him
out of the vineyard. What, then, shall the lord of the vineyard do? He
will come and destroy the husbandmen and let out the vineyard to
others.
Have ye not read this scripture: The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone of the whole foundation. This was the
Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
The chief priests and elders sought to lay hold of Jesus, but they
feared the people. They knew that He had spoken this parable about
them. When they left, they sent certain of the Pharisees and Herodians
to try to catch Jesus in His words. They asked, Master, we know that
thou art true, and regard not the person of men, but teach the way of
God. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or
shall we not give?
Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, answered, Why test me? Whose image and
superscription is on a coin? They said, Caesar's. Jesus replied, Then
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things
that are God's. They marvelled at Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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