The Parable about the Tenant Farmers^(A)

12 Then Jesus^[a] began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. ² At the right time, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them a share of the produce from the vineyard. ³ But the farmers^[b] grabbed the servant,^[c] beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. ⁴ Again, the man^[d] sent another servant to them. They beat the servant^[e] over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ Then the man^[f] sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants.^[g] Some of these they beat, and others they killed. ⁶ He still had one more person to send,^[h] a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those farmers told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, execute the farmers, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you ever read this Scripture:

¹² They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.