A Story about a Vineyard^(A)

12 Then, using this illustration, Jesus spoke to them. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a vat for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.

² “At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to collect from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. ³ The workers took the servant, beat him, and sent him back with nothing. ⁴ So the man sent another servant to them. They hit the servant on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ The man sent another, and they killed that servant. Then he sent many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.

⁶ “He had one more person to send. That person was his son, whom he loved. Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But those workers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the workers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you never read the Scripture passage:

¹² They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them. So they left him alone and went away.

A Story about a Vineyard^(A)

⁹ Then, using this illustration, Jesus spoke to the people: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to vineyard workers, and went on a long trip.

¹⁰ “At the right time he sent a servant to the workers to obtain from them a share of the grapes from the vineyard. But the workers beat the servant and sent him back with nothing. ¹¹ So he sent a different servant. The workers beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him back with nothing. ¹² Then he sent a third servant. But they injured this one and threw him out ⌞of the vineyard⌟.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son, whom I love. They’ll probably respect him.’

¹⁴ “When the workers saw him, they talked it over among themselves. They 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.

“What will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will destroy these workers and give the vineyard to others.”

Those who heard him said, “That’s unthinkable!”

¹⁷ Then Jesus looked straight at them and asked, “What, then, does this Scripture verse mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person.”

¹⁹ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the chief priests wanted to arrest him right there, but they were afraid of the people. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them.