THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD OWNER

12 He began to speak to them in parables:ad “A man planted a vineyard,ae put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away. 2 At harvest time he sentaf a servantag to the farmers to collect some of the fruitah of the vineyard from them. 3 But they took him, beatai him, and sent him away empty-handed.aj 4 Again he sent another servant to them, and theyC hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.D 5 Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He still had one to send, a belovedak son. Finallyal he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the ownerE,am of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others.