3
But they seized him, beat him cruelly and sent him away empty-handed.
4
Again he sent to them another servant: and as for him, they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully.
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Yet a third he sent, and him they killed. And he sent many besides, and them also they ill-treated, beating some and killing others.
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He had still one left whom he could send, a dearly-loved son: him last of all he sent, saying, "`They will treat my son with respect.'
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"But those men--the vine-dressers--said to one another, "`Here is the heir: come, let us kill him, and then the property will one day be ours.'
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"So they took him and killed him, and flung his body outside the vineyard.
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What, therefore, will the owner of the vineyard do?" "He will come and put the vine-dressers to death," they said; "and will give the vineyard to others."
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"Have you not read even this passage," He added, "`The stone which the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone:
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this Cornerstone came from the Lord, and is wonderful in our esteem?'"
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And they kept looking out for an opportunity to seize Him, but were afraid of the people; for they saw that in this parable He had referred to *them*. So they left Him and went away.
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Their next step was to send to Him some of the Pharisees and of Herod's partisans to entrap Him in conversation.