Daily Bible GNT April 9 Verses

The Question about Jesus' Authority
(Matthew 21.23-27; Mark 11.27-33)

Luke 20 One day when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people and preaching the Good News, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, together with the elders, came ²and said to him, "Tell us, what right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?"

³Jesus answered them, "Now let me ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?"

⁵They started to argue among themselves, "What shall we say? If we say, 'From God,' he will say, 'Why, then, did you not believe John?' ⁶But if we say, 'From human beings,' this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet." ⁷So they answered, "We don't know where it came from."

⁸And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things."

The Parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard
(Matthew 21.33-46; Mark 12.1-12)

⁹Then Jesus told the people this parable: "There was once a man who planted a vineyard, rented it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time. ¹⁰When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing. ¹¹So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing. ¹²Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!' ¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, 'This is the owner's son. Let's kill him, and his property will be ours!' ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

"What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?" Jesus asked. ¹⁶"He will come and kill those men, and turn the vineyard over to other tenants."

When the people heard this, they said, "Surely not!"

¹⁷Jesus looked at them and asked, "What, then, does this scripture mean?

'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless

turned out to be the most important of all.'
¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be cut to pieces; and if that stone falls on someone, that person will be crushed to dust."

The Question about Paying Taxes
(Matthew 22.15-22; Mark 12.13-17)

¹⁹The teachers of the Law and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus on the spot, because they knew that he had told this parable against them; but they were afraid of the people. ²⁰So they looked for an opportunity. They bribed some men to pretend they were sincere, and they sent them to trap Jesus with questions, so that they could hand him over to the authority and power of the Roman Governor. ²¹These spies said to Jesus, "Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. We know that you pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. ²²Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?"

²³But Jesus saw through their trick and said to them, ²⁴"Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?"

"The Emperor's," they answered.

²⁵So Jesus said, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God."

²⁶There before the people they could not catch him in a thing, so they kept quiet, amazed at his answer.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.