Matthew 21:33-46

The Parable of the Tenants

33 ¹“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ²a vineyard ³and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and ⁴leased it to tenants, and ⁵went into another country.

34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants^[a] to the tenants ⁶to get his fruit.

35 ⁷And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and ⁸stoned another.

36 ⁹Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son. ’

38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ¹⁰‘This is the heir. Come, ¹¹let us kill him and have his inheritance. ’

39 And they took him and ¹²threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 ¹³When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? ”

41 They said to him, ¹⁴“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and ¹⁵let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons. ”

42 Jesus said to them, ¹⁶“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ¹⁷“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ^[b] this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God ¹⁸will be taken away from you and given to a people ¹⁹producing its fruits.

44 And ²⁰the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and ²¹when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. ” ^[c]

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

46 And ²²although they were seeking to arrest him, ²³they feared the crowds, because they held him to be ²⁴a prophet.

Cross References

• 1. 21:33 For ver. 33-46, see Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19
• 2. 21:33 ver. 28; Ps. 80:8; Isa. 5:1
• 3. 21:33 Isa. 5:2
• 4. 21:33 Song 8:11, 12
• 5. 21:33 ch. 25:14, 15; [Mark 13:34]
• 6. 21:34 [See ver. 33 above]
• 7. 21:35 ch. 5:12; 22:6; 23:34, 37; [2 Chr. 24:19; 36:15, 16; Neh. 9:26; Jer. 37:15; 38:6; Acts 7:52; 2 Cor. 11:24-26; 1 Thess. 2:15; Heb. 11:36, 37]
• 8. 21:35 [2 Chr. 24:21; John 10:31-33; Acts 7:59]
• 9. 21:36 ch. 22:4
• 10. 21:38 Heb. 1:2; [John 1:11; Rom. 8:17]
• 11. 21:38 [1 Kgs. 21:19]
• 12. 21:39 Heb. 13:12
• 13. 21:40 [ch. 24:50; 25:19]
• 14. 21:41 Luke 19:27
• 15. 21:41 ver. 43; Acts 13:46; 18:6; 28:28; [ch. 8:11, 12]
• 16. 21:42 ver. 16
• 17. 21:42 Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7; Cited from Ps. 118:22, 23
• 18. 21:43 [Luke 14:24]
• 19. 21:43 [ch. 3:10; Isa. 5:4, 7]
• 20. 21:44 Isa. 8:14, 15; Rom. 9:32, 33; 1 Pet. 2:8
• 21. 21:44 Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45
• 22. 21:46 Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47, 48; John 7:25, 30, 44; [ch. 26:4]
• 23. 21:46 ver. 26
• 24. 21:46 [ver. 11]

Footnotes

• [a] 21:34 Greek 'bondservants'; also verses 35, 36
• [b] 21:42 Greek 'the head of the corner'
• [c] 21:44 Some manuscripts omit verse 44