Luke 20:9–19

The Parable of the Tenants

20:9–19pp—Mt 21:33–46; Mk 12:1–12

⁹He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,^m rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.^{n 10}At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹²He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love;^o perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and kill those tenants^p and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

¹⁷Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone’^a?^q

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^r

¹⁹The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him^s immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.^t