Matthew 21:33–46

Parable of the Vine-Growers

³³“Listen to another parable. ^aThere was a ¹landowner who ^bplanted a ^cvineyard and put a ^cwall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to ²vine-growers and ^dwent on a journey.

³⁴“Now when the ¹harvest time approached, he ^asent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.

³⁵“And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶“Again he ^asent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

³⁷“But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸“But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

³⁹“And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰“Therefore when the ¹owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”

⁴¹They ^*said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and ^awill rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

⁴²Jesus ^*said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘^aThe stone which the builders rejected,

This has become the chief corner stone;

This came about from the ¹Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it.

⁴⁴“And ^ahe who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

⁴⁵And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He ^*was speaking about them.

⁴⁶And although they were seeking to seize Him, they ^afeared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a ^bprophet.