The Parable about the Tenant Farmers^(A)

⁹ Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went abroad for a long time. ¹⁰ At the right time he sent a servant to the farmers in order to get his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, and they beat him, too, treated him shamefully, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹² Then he sent a third, and they wounded him and threw him out, too.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I’ll send my son whom I love. Maybe they’ll respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the farmers saw him, they talked it over among themselves and 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. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”

Those who heard him said, “That must never happen!”

¹⁷ But Jesus^[a] looked at them and asked, “What does this text mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

¹⁹ When the scribes and the high priests realized that Jesus^[c] had told this parable about them, they wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the crowd.