The Parable about the Tenant Farmers^(A)

12 Then Jesus^[a] began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. ² At the right time, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them a share of the produce from the vineyard. ³ But the farmers^[b] grabbed the servant,^[c] beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. ⁴ Again, the man^[d] sent another servant to them. They beat the servant^[e] over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ Then the man^[f] sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants.^[g] Some of these they beat, and others they killed. ⁶ He still had one more person to send,^[h] a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those farmers told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, execute the farmers, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you ever read this Scripture:

¹² They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.

The Parable about the Tenant Farmers^(A)

⁹ Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long time. ¹⁰ At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers in order to get his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, and they beat him, too, treated him shamefully, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹² Then he sent a third, and they wounded him and threw him out, too.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son whom I love. Maybe they’ll respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the farmers saw him, they talked it over among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours!’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”

Those who heard him said, “That must never happen!”

¹⁷ But Jesus^[a] looked at them and asked, “What does this text mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

¹⁹ When the scribes and the high priests realized that Jesus^[c] had told this parable about them, they wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the crowd.