1
And 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 wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.
2
When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3
And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
4
Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.
5
And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed.
6
He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.