16. He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17. Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ ?
18. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
19. The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
20. Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.
21. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
22. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23. He saw through their duplicity and said to them,
24. “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.
25. He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”