Mark 12:1-12

Expanded Bible

The Story of the Evil Farmers^(A)

12 [Then] Jesus began ·to use stories to teach the people [^Lto speak to them in parables; see 3:23]. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a ·hole [vat; pit] for a winepress and built a tower [^Cto protect against thieves; see Is. 5:1–7 for the background to this parable]. Then he leased the land to some [^Ctenant] farmers and left for a trip [^Cthe owner represents God, the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. ² When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent a ·servant [slave] to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³ But the farmers grabbed ·the servant [^Lhim] and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then the man sent another ·servant [slave]. They ·hit [beat] him on the head and ·showed no respect for [humiliated; dishonored] him. ⁵ So the man sent another, whom they killed. The man sent many others; the farmers beat some of them and killed others [^Cthe servants represent the prophets God sent to Israel].

⁶ “The man had one person left to send, his son whom he loved [^Crepresenting Jesus; see 1:11; 9:7]. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the farmers said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “So what will the ·owner [lord] of the vineyard do? 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]. ¹⁰ ·Surely you have read [^LHave you never read…?] this Scripture:

¹² The Jewish leaders knew that the ·story [parable] was about them. So they ·wanted to find a way [were seeking/trying] to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the people. So the leaders left him and went away.