You Priests Are Like Farmers Who Killed The Owner’s Messengers And His Son

12 And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit [for a wine press] and built a tower. And he rented it to farmers and went-on-a-journey. ² And he sent forth a slave to the farmers at the harvest time in order that he might receive from the fruits of the vineyard from the farmers. ³ And having taken him, they beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And again he sent-forth another slave to them. And that one they struck-on-the-head, and dishonored. ⁵ And he sent forth another— and that one they killed— and many others, they beating some and killing others. ⁶ He was still having one to send: a beloved son. He sent him forth to them last, saying that ‘They will have-regard-for my son’. ⁷ But those farmers said to themselves that ‘This one is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours’. ⁸ And having taken him, they killed him and threw him outside of the vineyard. ⁹ Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and give the vineyard to others.

But As The Psalm Says, The Stone The Builders Rejected Became The Cornerstone

¹⁰ Did you not even read this Scripture [in Ps 118:22-23]: ‘The stone which the ones building rejected, this became the head of the corner^[a]. ¹¹ This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” ¹² And they were seeking to seize Him. And^[b] they feared the crowd. For they^[c] knew that He spoke the parable against them. And having left Him, they went away.