So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.&#8221;<n id="1" />

I tell you the truth,<n id="1" /> this generation will be held responsible for all these things!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> Jesus<n id="2" /> told them<n id="3" /> this parable:<n id="4" />

There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy,<n id="1" /> we do not become discouraged.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">He said to them, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you understand this parable? Then<n id="1" /> how will you understand any parable?

But Jesus said to them, &#8220;He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts.<n id="1" />

Have you not read this scripture:p> <p class="otpoetry">&#8216;<b><i>The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.i>b><n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> Peter said, &#8220;Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?&#8221;<n id="2" />

I<n id="1" /> persecuted this Way<n id="2" /> even to the point of death,<n id="3" /> tying up<n id="4" /> both men and women and putting<n id="5" /> them in prison,

Thus<n id="1" /> we urged<n id="2" /> Titus that, just as he had previously begun this work,<n id="3" /> so also he should complete this act of kindness<n id="4" /> for you.

When this voice was conveyed from heaven, we ourselves<n id="1" /> heard it, for we were with him on the holy mountain.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written<n id="1" /> you, in which<n id="2" /> I am trying to stir up<n id="3" /> your pure mind by way of reminder:

And everyone who has this hope focused<n id="1" /> on him purifies<n id="2" /> himself, just as Jesus<n id="3" /> is pure).<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;To<n id="1" /> what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,<n id="2" />p>

and said, &#8220;By what authority<n id="1" /> are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?&#8221;

yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out<n id="1" /> by her unending pleas.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jesus<n id="1" /> also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down<n id="2" /> on everyone else.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> he began to tell the people this parable: &#8220;A man<n id="2" /> planted a vineyard,<n id="3" /> leased it to tenant farmers,<n id="4" /> and went on a journey for a long time.

And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.<n id="1" />