¹⁹ But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, ^(A)and let us cut him off from ^(B)the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

Jeremiah Persecuted

¹⁸ Then they said, ^(A)“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; ^(B)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

¹⁰ Now at ^[a]vintage-time he ^(A)sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’ ¹⁴ But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the ^(B)heir. Come, ^(C)let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ^(D)ours.’ ¹⁵ So they cast him out of the vineyard and ^(E)killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?