^21:33“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner⁵² who planted a vineyard.⁵³ He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then⁵⁴ he leased it to tenant farmers⁵⁵ and went on a journey. ^21:34When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves⁵⁶ to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop.⁵⁷^21:35But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one,⁵⁸ killed another, and stoned another. ^21:36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. ^21:37Finally he sent his son to them,⁵⁹ saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ^21:38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ ^21:39So⁶⁰ they seized him,⁶¹ threw him out of the vineyard,⁶² and killed him. ^21:40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ^21:41They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

^21:42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.⁶³

This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?⁶⁴

^21:43For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people⁶⁵ who will produce its fruit. ^21:44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.”⁶⁶^21:45When⁶⁷ the chief priests and the Pharisees⁶⁸ heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. ^21:46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds⁶⁹ regarded him as a prophet.

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Footnotes

52 The term here refers to the owner and manager of a household.
53 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.
54 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
55 The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.
56 See the note on the word “slave” in . These slaves represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.
57 Grk “to collect his fruits.”
58 The image of the tenants mistreating the owner’s slaves pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.
59 The owner’s decision to send his son represents God sending Jesus.
60 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the tenants’ decision to kill the son in v. 38.
61 Grk “seizing him.” The participle λαβόντες (labontes) has been translated as attendant circumstance.
62 Throwing the heir out of the vineyard pictures Jesus’ death outside of Jerusalem.
63 Or “capstone,” “keystone.” Although these meanings are lexically possible, the imagery in Eph 2:20–22 and 1 Cor 3:11 indicates that the term κεφαλὴ γωνίας (kephalē gōnias) refers to a cornerstone, not a capstone. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The use of Ps 118:22–23 and the “stone imagery” as a reference to Christ and his suffering and exaltation is common in the NT (see also Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:6–8; cf. also Eph 2:20). The irony in the use of Ps 118:22–23 here is that in the OT, Israel was the one rejected (or perhaps her king) by the Gentiles, but in the NT it is Jesus who is rejected by Israel.
64 A quotation from Ps 118:22–23.
65 Or “to a nation” (so , , ).
66 A few witnesses, especially of the Western text (D 33 it sys Or Eussyr), do not contain 21:44. However, the verse is found in א B C L W Z (Θ) 0102 f1, 13 𝔐 lat syc,p,h co and should be included as authentic. Grk “on whomever it falls, it will crush him.” This proverb basically means that the stone crushes, without regard to whether it falls on someone or someone falls on it. On the stone as a messianic image, see Isa 28:16 and Dan 2:44–45.
67 Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
68 See the note on Pharisees in .
69 Grk “they”; the referent (the crowds) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Both previous occurrences of “they” in this verse refer to the chief priests and the Pharisees.