Matthew 21:33–46

THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD OWNER

³³“Listen^r to another parable:^s There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower.^t He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.^{u 34}When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. ³⁵The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{v 36}Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. ³⁷Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’^{w 39}So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

⁴¹“He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”^a

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.^A

This is what the Lord has done

and it is wonderful in our eyes?^Bb

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces;^c but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”^C

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,^d they knew he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.^e