^12:1Then¹ he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.² He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then³ he leased it to tenant farmers⁴ and went on a journey. ^12:2At harvest time he sent a slave⁵ to the tenants to collect from them⁶ his portion of the crop.⁷^12:3But⁸ those tenants⁹ seized his slave,¹⁰ beat him,¹¹ and sent him away empty-handed.¹²

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
2 The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1–7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11–24.
3 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
4 The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.
5 See the note on the word “slave” in . This slave (along with the others) represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.
6 Grk “from the tenants,” but this is redundant in English, so the pronoun (“them”) was used in the translation.
7 Grk “from the fruits of the vineyard.”
8 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
9 Grk “But they”; the referent (the tenants, v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 Grk “seizing him, they beat and sent away empty-handed.” The referent of the direct object of “seizing” (the slave sent by the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The objects of the verbs “beat” and “sent away” have been supplied in the translation to conform to English style. Greek often omits direct objects when they are clear from the context.
11 The image of the tenants beating up the owner’s slave pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.
12 The slaves being sent empty-handed suggests that the vineyard was not producing any fruit—and thus neither was the nation of Israel.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, 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. At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from them. But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

NLTNew Living Translation

Then Jesus began teaching them with stories: “A man planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and dug a trough for the winepress, and built a watchtower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey. And he sent a slave to the tenant farmers at the proper time, so that he could collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from the tenant farmers. And they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

Public Domain