Mark 12:1-12

The Parable of the Tenants

1 ¹And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ²a vineyard ³and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ⁴leased it to tenants and ⁵went into another country.

2 When the season came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 ⁶And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 ⁷Again ⁸he sent to them another servant, and ⁹they struck him on the head and ¹⁰treated him shamefully.

5 ¹¹And 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, ¹²a beloved son. ¹³Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son. ’

7 But those tenants said to one another, ¹⁴‘This is the heir. Come, ¹⁵let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. ’

8 And they took him and killed him and ¹⁶threw him out of the vineyard.

9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? ¹⁷He will ¹⁸come and destroy the tenants and ¹⁹give the vineyard to others.

10 ²⁰Have you not read ²¹this Scripture: ²²“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; ^[b]

11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? ”

12 And ²³they were seeking to arrest him ²⁴but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ²⁵left him and went away.

Cross References

• 1. 12:1 For ver. 1-12, see Matt. 21:33-46; Luke 20:9-19
• 2. 12:1 Ps. 80:8; Isa. 5:1; Matt. 21:28
• 3. 12:1 Isa. 5:2
• 4. 12:1 Song 8:11, 12
• 5. 12:1 ch. 13:34; Matt. 25:14, 15
• 6. 12:3 Matt. 5:12; 22:6; 23:34, 37; [2 Chr. 24:19; 36:15, 16; Neh. 9:26; Jer. 37:15; 38:6; Acts 7:52; 2 Cor. 11:24-26; 1 Thess. 2:15; Heb. 11:36, 37]
• 7. 12:4 [See ver. 3 above]
• 8. 12:4 Matt. 22:4
• 9. 12:4 [Acts 14:19]
• 10. 12:4 Acts 5:41 (Gk.)
• 11. 12:5 [See ver. 3 above]
• 12. 12:6 See Matt. 3:17
• 13. 12:6 [Heb. 1:1]
• 14. 12:7 Heb. 1:2; [John 1:11; Rom. 8:17]
• 15. 12:7 [1 Kgs. 21:19]
• 16. 12:8 Heb. 13:12
• 17. 12:9 [Luke 19:27]
• 18. 12:9 [Matt. 24:50; 25:19]
• 19. 12:9 Matt. 21:43; Acts 13:46; 18:6; 28:28; [Matt. 8:11, 12]
• 20. 12:10 See Matt. 21:16
• 21. 12:10 Luke 4:21; Acts 8:35
• 22. 12:10 Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7; Cited from Ps. 118:22, 23
• 23. 12:12 ch. 11:18; Luke 19:47, 48; John 7:25, 30, 44; [Matt. 26:4]
• 24. 12:12 ch. 11:32
• 25. 12:12 Matt. 22:22

Footnotes

• [a] 12:2 Greek 'bondservant'; also verse 4
• [b] 12:10 Greek 'the head of the corner'