The Parable of the Tenant Farmers in the Vineyard
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time.
10
And at the proper time he sent a slave to the tenant farmers, so that they would give him [some] of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers sent him away empty-handed [after] beating [him].
11
And he proceeded to send another slave, but they beat and dishonored that one also, [and] sent [him] away empty-handed.
12
And he proceeded to send a third, but they wounded [and] threw out this one also.
13
So the owner of the vineyard said, 'What should I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.'
14
But [when] the tenant farmers saw him, they began to reason with one another, saying, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will become ours!'
15
And they threw him out of the vineyard [and] killed [him]. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16
He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others." And [when they] heard [this], they said, "[May this] never happen!"
17
But he looked intently at them [and] said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}.'
18
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and [the one] on whom it falls--it will crush him!"
19
And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay [their] hands on him at [that] same hour, and they were afraid of the people, for they knew that he had told this parable with reference to them.