The Story of the Evil Farmers^(A)

⁹ Then Jesus ·told [^Lbegan/proceeded to tell] the people this ·story [parable]: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to some [^Ctenant] farmers [^CJesus builds on Is. 5:1–7; the owner represents God; the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. Then he ·went away [took a journey] for a long time. ¹⁰ ·When it was time for the grapes to be picked [^LAt the (harvest) time], he sent a ·servant [slave] to the farmers to get some of the grapes [^Cthe portion of the harvest to pay the rent]. But they beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Then he sent another ·servant [slave]. They beat him also, and ·showed no respect for [humiliated; dishonored] him, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² So the man sent a third. The farmers wounded him and threw him out [^Cthe servants represent the prophets God sent to Israel]. ¹³ The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love [^Crepresenting Jesus; see 3:22]. ·Maybe [or Probably; or Surely] they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This ·son will inherit the vineyard [^Lis the heir]. Let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What will the ·owner [lord] of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and ·kill [destroy] those farmers and will give the vineyard to ·other farmers [^Lothers; ^Creferring to the sinners who were responding to Jesus’ call for repentance, and eventually to the Gentiles who would be saved].”

When the people heard this ·story [parable], they said, “·Let this never happen [^TGod forbid; ^LMay it not happen]!”

¹⁷ But Jesus looked [directly; intently] at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture passage mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken [Is. 8:14], and the person on whom it falls, that person will be crushed [cf. Dan. 2:34]!”