Mark 12:1-12

New International Version

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

12 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.^(B) He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ²At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

⁶“He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all,^(C) saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷“But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹“What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;^(D)
¹¹the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’^[a]?”^(E)

¹²Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd;^(F) so they left him and went away.^(G)

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Footnotes

Mark 12:11 Psalm 118:22,23

Isaiah 5:1-7

New International Version

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:^(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
²He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.^(B)
He built a watchtower^(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress^(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.^(E)

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.^(F)
⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?^(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?^(H)
⁵Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
    and it will be destroyed;^(I)
I will break down its wall,^(J)
    and it will be trampled.^(K)
⁶I will make it a wasteland,^(L)
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns^(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain^(N) on it.”

⁷The vineyard^(O) of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,^(P) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,^(Q) but heard cries of distress.^(R)