They cuist his queystin owre i their minds, an said til themsels, “Gin we say, ‘Frae heiven’, he will say til us, ‘What for did ye no belíeve him syne?’ But gin we say, ‘It cam o men’—there’s the fowk tae be feared for; aabodie hauds John for a Prophet!” Sae they said tae Jesus, “We canna say.”
“An I winna tell ye aitherins,” qo he, “what authoritie I hae for this at I am daein. But tell us your thocht on this,” he gaed on. “There wis a man hed twa sons. He gaed tae the tane o them an said, ‘Awà, lad, an wurk i the vine-yaird the day.’
“ ‘Ay, faither,’ said he, ‘I’ll dae that.’ But he gaedna.
“Syne the man gaed tae the tither son an said the same til him.
“ ‘No me!’ said he. But efterhin he forthocht, an gaed.
“Whilk o the twa did his faither’s will?”
“The lest ane,” said they.
“Atweill, I tell ye,” said Jesus tae them, “the tax-uplifters an the hures is winnin intil the Kíngdom o God afore ye! John cam tae ye an shawed ye in wurd an deed the wey o richteousness, an ye belíeved-him-na: but the tax-uplifters an hures belíeved him. An tho ye saw them, een than ye tuikna the rue, een than ye belíeved-him-na!
“Listen anither parable. The’ war aince a laird at plantit a vine-yaird. He dykit it, delved a wine-fatt intil it, biggit a watch-touer, an syne set it tae some gairdners an fuir awà furth o the kintra.
“Whan the hairst-tid wis naurhaund, he sent his servans tae uplift his pairt o the crap frae them. But the gairdners grippit them an laubourt ane, felled anither, an staned a third. Syne he sent ither servans, mair o them this time nor afore: but the gairdners saired them the same gate.
“A while efter, he sent his ain son tae them: ‘They’ll niver mint tae middle him,’ thocht he til himsel. But whan the gairdners saw the son, they said amang themsels, ‘Here’s the yung laird—c’wà, lads, lat’s fell him an get wir haunds on his heirskip!’ Sae they tuik hauds o him an drave him outen the vine-yaird an felled him.
“Weill, than, hou will the awner o the vine-yaird sair thae gairdners, whan he comes hame?”
“An ill deith the ill-daers’ll díe at his haunds!” said they. “An for the vine-yaird’s pairt, he will set it til ither gairdners, at will ey gíe him up his skare o the crap at the trystit time.”
Syne Jesus said tae them, “Hae ye ne’er read thir wurds i the Bible:
The stane at the biggars cuist aside,
hit is een become the cunyie:
this wis wrocht bi the Lord,
an a ferlie it is in our een?
An sae I tell ye, the Kíngdom o God will be taen awà frae ye an gíen til a fowk at brings furth the frutes o the same. [[Him at faas on this stane will be dung in blauds; an him at this stane faas on, it will send him flíein like stour.]]”
Whan the Heid-Príests an Pharisees heared his parables, weill saw they at he wis ettlin at themsels, an they wad fain arreistit him: but they war fleyed for the fowk, sin they huid him for a Prophet.
22 JESUS NOU TAULD them a wheen mair parables. This wis ane o them: “The Kíngdom o Heiven is like this,” qo he. “A kíng gíed a waddin-feast for his son. He sent his servans til aa them at hed gotten invítes, tae bid them come: but they wadna come.
“Syne he sent them wurd again bi ither servans, at wis tauld tae say this tae them: ‘Here is aa my fore-redd for the waddin-brakfast made, an my bills an feds killed; aathing is reddie, come tae the mairrage.’ But nae heed peyed they. Some o them gaed awà tae their fíelds, an ithers tae their treddin an trokin: but the lave grippit his servans an ill-gydit an felled them, whilk sae raised the Kíng at he sent his sodgers an slew thae murtherers an brunt their toun in aiss.
“Syne the Kíng said til his servans, ‘The waddin-feast is aa reddie, but them at wis bidden til it wisna wurdie. Gae ye out nou tae the toun’s ports an bid in aabodie ye meet in wi tae the waddin.’ Sae the servans gaed out intil the streets an gethert aa at they faund there—saunts, sinners, aa kinkind—till the muckle haa wis pang fu o guests.
“Whan the Kíng cam in tae tak a vízie o the companie, he saw a man at wisna cled in waddin-braws. ‘My fríend,’ qo he til him, ‘what ar ye daein here an ye no in your waddin-braws?’ But the man said naither ‘Eechie’ nor ‘Ochie’.
“Syne the Kíng said tae the servitors, ‘Binnd this man fit an haund, an cast him intil the mirk thereout!’ It is there at the yaumer an the chirkin o teeth will be; for monie-ane is bidden, but few is waled.”
SYNE THE PHARISEES the pharisees gaed their waas an tuik counsel hou they micht fangle him in an argiment; an the affcome o their colloguin wis at they sent their ain disciples, wi men o Herod’s pairtie, tae say til him, “Aabodie kens at ye ar honest an aivendoun, an your teachin o God’s wey for men is confeirin, nor ye carena a doit for onie-ane, for it’s nae odds tae ye wha a man is—tell us your mind anent the imperial poll-tax: hae we líshence tae pey it, or hae we no?”
Jesus saw weill their sleeness, an said tae them, “What for seek ye tae girn me, hýpocrítes at ye ar? Shaw me ane o the coins ye pey the tax wi.” They raxed him a merk, an he speired at them, “Wha’s heid is that? Wha’s name read ye there?”
“The Emperor’s,” said they.
“A-weill, than,” qo he, “pey the Emperor what perteins tae the Emperor, an pey God what perteins tae God.” That left them dumfounert; an, onsaid mair til him, they gaed their waas.
THE SAME DAY a wheen Sadducees—them at hauds out there is nae risin o the deid—cam up an speired a queystin at him: “Maister,” said they, “Moses laid doun at, gin a man díes laein nae bairns, his brither maun mairrie his wídow an raise a faimlie til him. Nou, the’ war aince seiven brithers whaur we belang. The first o them mairriet an díed an, no haein childer, left his wife til his brither. It gaed the same gate wi the saicond brither, an the third, an aa the lave o the seiven. Syne, efter aa the brithers wis awà, the wuman díed hersel. At the resurrection wha’s wife will she be, na? She wis mairriet, like, on them aa, ye see.”
Jesus answert, “Ye ar aa wrang for no kennin aither the Bible or the pouer o God! Whan the deid rises again, there is nae mair mairriein for man nor wuman; they ar een as the angels in heiven. An, as tae the resurrection o the deid, hae ye no read the wurds spokken tae ye bi God himsel: ‘I am the God o Abraham an the God o Isaac an the God o Jaucob’? He isna the God o the deid, but the lívin.”
This wis said i the hearin o the croud; an they war fair stoundit at his teachin.
WHAN THEY HEARED at he hed gart the Sadducees wheesht, the Pharisees met thegither, an ane o them at wis faur seen i the Law socht tae kittle him wi a queystin.
“Maister,” said he, “whilk is the grytest Commaund i the Law?”
He answert, “ ‘Thou sal luve the Lord thy God wi aa thy hairt an wi aa thy saul an wi aa thy wit.’ That is the first an grytest Commaund. The saicond is like it: ‘Thou sal luve thy neipour as thysel.’ On thae twa Commaunds hings the haill o the Law an the Prophets.”
Afore the Pharisees skailed, Jesus speired a queystin at them: “What is your thocht anent the Christ?” qo he. “Wha’s son is he?”
“Dauvit’s,” said they.
“Hou, than,” qo he, “dis Dauvit, speakin i the Spírit, caa him ‘lord’, whaur he says:
The Lord said til my lord,
‘Sit thou