33. Jesus told the chief priests and leaders to listen to this story:A land owner once planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it and dug a pit to crush the grapes in. He also built a lookout tower. Then he let his vineyard and left the country.
34. When it was harvest time, the owner sent some servants to get his share of the grapes.
35. But the tenants grabbed those servants. They beat up one, killed one, and stoned one of them to death.
36. He then sent more servants than he did the first time. But the tenants treated them in the same way.
37. Finally, the owner sent his own son to the tenants, because he thought they would respect him.
38. But when they saw the man's son, they said, “Some day he will own the vineyard. Let's kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves.”
39. So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40. Jesus asked, “When the owner of that vineyard comes, what do you suppose he will do to those tenants?”
41. The chief priests and leaders answered, “He will kill them in some horrible way. Then he will let his vineyard to people who will give him his share of grapes at harvest time.”
42. Jesus replied, “Surely you know that the Scriptures say,‘The stone that the builderstossed asideis now the most importantstone of all.This is somethingthe Lord has done,and it is amazing to us.’