Passage Viewer

Listen to another example: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then went to a distant country.

When harvest time arrived, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his portion of the harvest.

But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

Once more, the owner sent additional servants, but they were treated the same way.

Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

Now, what will the vineyard owner do with the tenants when he comes?

They told him:

“He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.”

And Jesus replied:

“Have you never read what the Scriptures say?

The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This was the LORD’s doing,

and we marvel at it.

Therefore, I tell you: the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they understood that Jesus was talking about them.

They would have arrested him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded him as a prophet.