The Parable of the Tenant Farmers in the Vineyard
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a man--a master of a house--who planted a vineyard, and put a fence [around] it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey.
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And when the season of fruit drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.
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And the tenant farmers seized his slaves, [one of] whom they beat, and [one of] whom they killed, and [one of] whom they stoned.
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Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first [ones], and they did the same [thing] to them.
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So finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
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But [when] the tenant farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance!'
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And they seized him [and] threw [him] out of the vineyard and killed [him].
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Now when the master of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those tenant farmers?"
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They said to him, "He will destroy those evil [men] completely and lease the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruits in their season."
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Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become {the cornerstone}.
This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
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For this [reason], I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruits.
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And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and [the one] on whom it falls--it will crush him!"
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And [when] the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them,
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and [although they] wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they looked upon him as a prophet.