Mark 12:1-12

Modern English Version

The Parable of the Vineyard and the Vinedressers^(A)

12 He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower, and rented it to vinedressers, and went to a far country. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the vinedressers to receive from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then he sent another servant to them. They threw stones at him, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. ⁵ Still he sent another, and they killed him. And there were many others. Some they beat, and some they killed.

⁶ “Having yet his one well-beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will revere my son.’

⁷ “But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So 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 the vinedressers and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not read this Scripture:

¹² Then they tried to seize Him, but feared the people, for they knew that He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went their way.