The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9 1And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted
2a vineyard and
3let it out to tenants and
4went into another country for a long while.
10
When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that
5they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.
6But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
11
7And
8he sent another servant. But they also beat and
9treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
12
10And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.
13
Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my
11beloved son; perhaps they will respect him. ’
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But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves,
12‘This is the heir.
13Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours. ’
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And they
14threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16
15He will
16come and destroy those tenants and
17give the vineyard to others. ”When they heard this, they said, “Surely not! ”
17
But he
18looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
19“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?
18
20Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls
21on anyone, it will crush him. ”