Mark 12:1-12

Christian Standard Bible

The Parable of the Vineyard Owner

12 He^(A) began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard,^(B) put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. ² At harvest time he sent^(C) a servant^(D) to the farmers to collect some of the fruit^(E) of the vineyard from them. ³ But they took him, beat^(F) him, and sent him away empty-handed.^{(G) 4} Again he sent another servant to them, and they^[a] hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.^{[b] 5} Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. ⁶ He still had one to send, a beloved^(H) son. Finally^(I) he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What then will the owner^[c](J) of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this Scripture:^(K)

¹² They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.