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Then He began to speak to them in figurative language. "There was once a man," He said, "who planted a vineyard, fenced it round, dug a pit for the wine-tank, and built a strong lodge. Then he let the place to vine-dressers and went abroad.
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At vintage-time he sent one of his servants to receive from the vine-dressers a share of the grapes.
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But they seized him, beat him cruelly and sent him away empty-handed.
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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?'"