⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate^(A) and gracious God, slow to anger,^(B) abounding in love^(C) and faithfulness,^{(D) 7} maintaining love to thousands,^(E) and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.^(F) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished;^(G) he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”^(H)

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

⁹ He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,^(B) rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.^{(C) 10} At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹² He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love;^(D) perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and kill those tenants^(E) and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”