Mark 12:1-12

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

12 Then^(A) He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard,^(B) put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. ² At harvest time he sent^(C) a slave^(D) to the farmers to collect some of the fruit^(E) of the vineyard from the farmers. ³ But they took him, beat^(F) him, and sent him away empty-handed.^{(G) 4} Again he sent another slave to them, and they^[a] hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.^{[b] 5} Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; they beat some and they killed some.

⁶ “He still had one to send, a beloved^(H) son. Finally^(I) he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But those tenant farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “Therefore, what will the owner^[c](J) of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this Scripture:^(K)

¹² Because they knew He had said this parable against them, they were looking for a way to arrest Him, but they were afraid of the crowd. So they left Him and went away.