Matthew 21:33–46

³³Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

³⁴When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. ³⁵But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the tenants did the same to them.

³⁷Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at harvest time.”

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

‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This is from the Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’^k?

⁴³Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.^l”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they knew that Jesus was speaking about them. ⁴⁶Although they wanted to arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded Him as a prophet.