Reader

Ἀποκριθείς δέ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐρωτήσω ὑμᾶς κἀγώ λόγον ἕνα, ὅν ἐάν εἴπητε μοι κἀγώ ὑμῖν ἐρῶ ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ· τό βάπτισμα τό Ἰωάννου πόθεν ἦν; ἐκ οὐρανοῦ ἤ ἐκ ἀνθρώπων; οἱ δέ διελογίζοντο ἐν ἑαυτοῖς λέγοντες· Ἐάν εἴπωμεν· ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐρεῖ ἡμῖν· Διά τί οὖν οὐ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ; ἐάν δέ εἴπωμεν· ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, φοβούμεθα τόν ὄχλον, πάντες γάρ ὡς προφήτην ἔχουσιν τόν Ἰωάννην. καί ἀποκριθέντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἶπαν· οὐκ οἴδαμεν. Ἔφη αὐτοῖς καί αὐτός· Οὐδέ ἐγώ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ. Τί δέ ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἄνθρωπος εἶχεν τέκνα δύο. καί προσελθών τῷ πρώτῳ εἶπεν· Τέκνον, ὕπαγε σήμερον ἐργάζου ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνι. ὁ δέ ἀποκριθείς εἶπεν· οὐ θέλω, ὕστερον δέ μεταμεληθείς ἀπῆλθεν. Προσελθών δέ τῷ ἑτέρῳ εἶπεν ὡσαύτως. ὁ δέ ἀποκριθείς εἶπεν· Ἐγώ, κύριε, καί οὐ ἀπῆλθεν. Τίς ἐκ τῶν δύο ἐποίησεν τό θέλημα τοῦ πατρός; Λέγουσιν· ὁ πρῶτος. Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμήν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ τελῶναι καί αἱ πόρναι προάγουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. ἦλθεν γάρ Ἰωάννης πρός ὑμᾶς ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης, καί οὐ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ, οἱ δέ τελῶναι καί αἱ πόρναι ἐπίστευσαν αὐτῷ· ὑμεῖς δέ ἰδόντες οὐδέ μετεμελήθητε ὕστερον τοῦ πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ. Ἄλλην παραβολήν ἀκούσατε. Ἄνθρωπος ἦν οἰκοδεσπότης ὅστις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα καί φραγμόν αὐτῷ περιέθηκεν καί ὤρυξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ληνόν καί ᾠκοδόμησεν πύργον καί ἐξέδετο αὐτόν γεωργοῖς καί ἀπεδήμησεν.

I will also ask you one question,” Jesus replied {and} if you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. What was the source of John᾽s baptism? [Was it] from heaven or from men?” They deliberated among themselves [and] said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,᾽ He will ask ‘Why then did you not believe him?᾽ But if we say, ‘From men,᾽ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” So they said to Jesus “We do not know.” “Neither {will} I tell you by what authority I am doing these things,” He replied “But what [do] you think? [There was] a man who had two sons. He went to the first [and] said, ‘Son, go [and] work today in the vineyard.᾽ ‘I will not,᾽ he replied But later he changed his mind [and] went. Then [the man] went to the other [son] [and] told [him] the same thing. ‘I [will], sir,᾽ he said But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of [his] father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes [did] And [even] after you saw this, you did not repent [and] believe him. Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to [some] tenants and went away on a journey.