Luke 20

1verseOn one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders.

2verseThey asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”

3verseHe answered them, “I also will ask you one question. Tell me:

4versethe baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”

5verseThey reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

6verseBut if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

7verseThey answered that they didn’t know where it was from.

8verseJesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

9verseHe began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.

10verseAt the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty.

11verseHe sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

12verseHe sent yet a third, and they also wounded him and threw him out.

13verseThe lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’

14verse“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’

15verseThen they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?

16verseHe will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

17verseBut he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone’?

18verseEveryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

19verseThe chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.

20verseThey watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.

21verseThey asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.

22verseIs it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

23verseBut he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test me?

24verseShow me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They answered, “Caesar’s.”

25verseHe said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

26verseThey weren’t able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent.

27verseSome of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.

28verseThey asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.

29verseThere were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.

30verseThe second took her as wife, and he died childless.

31verseThe third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.

32verseAfterward the woman also died.

33verseTherefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”

34verseJesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.

35verseBut those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

36verseFor they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

37verseBut that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

38verseNow he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”

39verseSome of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”

40verseThey didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.

41verseHe said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son?

42verseDavid himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,

43verseuntil I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’

44verse“David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

45verseIn the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,

46verse“Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;

47versewho devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”