But when the husbandmen saw him
In human nature, heard him preach, and observed the miracles done by him:
they reasoned among themselves;
as the Scribes and Pharisees, and elders of the people often did:
saying, this is the heir;
the heir of God, being his Son; and so the Ethiopic version; "this Son is his heir", or the heir of the vineyard; being, by appointment, heir of all things, and by his descent from David heir to the kingdom of Israel;
come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
The Arabic and Persic versions render it, "and his inheritance shall be ours": the nation, city, temple, and all the emoluments and benefits thereof. The word "come" is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Gothic and Vulgate Latin versions.