Thematic Bible: In the parables of jesus


Thematic Bible



And he began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard, and put a fence [around it], and dug a trough for the winepress, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. And he sent a slave to the tenant farmers at the proper time, so that he could collect [some] of the fruit of the vineyard from the tenant farmers. And they seized him [and] beat [him] and sent [him] away empty-handed. read more.
And again he sent to them another slave, and that one they struck on the head and dishonored. And he sent another, and that one they killed. And [he sent] many others, [some] of whom they beat and [some] of whom they killed. He had one more, a beloved son. Last [of all] he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenant farmers said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours!' And they seized [and] killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" And they were seeking to arrest him, and they were afraid of the crowd, because they knew that he had told the parable with reference to them. And they left him [and] went away.

"Listen to another parable: There was a man--a master of a house--who planted a vineyard, and put a fence [around] it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. And when the season of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit. And the tenant farmers seized his slaves, [one of] whom they beat, and [one of] whom they killed, and [one of] whom they stoned. read more.
Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first [ones], and they did the same [thing] to them. So finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But [when] the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance!' And they seized him [and] threw [him] out of the vineyard and killed [him]. Now when the master of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those tenant farmers?" They said to him, "He will destroy those evil [men] completely and lease the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruits in their season." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? For this [reason], I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and [the one] on whom it falls--it will crush him!" And [when] the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them, and [although they] wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they looked upon him as a prophet.

And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time. And at the proper time he sent a slave to the tenant farmers, so that they would give him [some] of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers sent him away empty-handed [after] beating [him]. And he proceeded to send another slave, but they beat and dishonored that one also, [and] sent [him] away empty-handed. read more.
And he proceeded to send a third, but they wounded [and] threw out this one also. So the owner of the vineyard said, 'What should I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But [when] the tenant farmers saw him, they began to reason with one another, saying, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will become ours!' And they threw him out of the vineyard [and] killed [him]. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others." And [when they] heard [this], they said, "[May this] never happen!" But he looked intently at them [and] said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}.' Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and [the one] on whom it falls--it will crush him!" And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay [their] hands on him at [that] same hour, and they were afraid of the people, for they knew that he had told this parable with reference to them. And they watched [him] closely [and] sent spies who pretended they were upright, in order that they could catch him in a statement, so that they could hand him over to the authority and the jurisdiction of the governor.


And on the next day [as] they were departing from Bethany, he was hungry. And [when he] saw from a distance a fig tree that had leaves, he went [to see] if perhaps he would find anything on it. And [when he] came up to it he found nothing except leaves, because it was not the season for figs. And he responded [and] said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you any more {forever}!" And his disciples heard [it].

And leaving them, he went outside of the city to Bethany and spent the night there. Now early in the morning, [as he] was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you {forever}, and the fig tree withered at once. read more.
And [when they] saw [it], the disciples were astonished, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"


But he said to him, "A certain man was giving a large banquet and invited many. And he sent his slave at the hour of the banquet to say to those who have been invited, 'Come, because now it is ready!' And they all {alike} began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, 'I have purchased a field, and {I must} go out to look at it. I ask you, consider me excused.' read more.
And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you, consider me excused.' And another said, 'I have married a wife, and for this [reason] I am not able to come.' And the slave came [and] reported these [things] to his master. Then the master of the house became angry [and] said to his slave, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame!' And the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and press [them] to come in, so that my house will be filled! For I say to you that none of those persons who were invited will taste my banquet!'"


"Now what do you think? A man had two sons. [He] approached the first [and] said, 'Son, go work in the vineyard today.' And he answered [and] said, 'I do not want to!' But later [he] changed his mind [and] went. And [he] approached the second [and] said the same [thing]. So he answered [and] said, 'I [will], sir,' and he did not go. read more.
Which of the two did the will of [his] father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God! For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And [when] you saw [it], you did not even change your minds later [so as] to believe in him.


And he told this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find [any]. So he said to the gardener, 'Behold, {for three years} I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and did not find [any]. Cut it down! Why should it even exhaust the soil?' But he answered [and] said to him, 'Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put manure on [it]. read more.
And if indeed it produces fruit in the coming [year], [so much the better], but if not, you can cut it down.'"