1. Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.
2. At harvest time he sent a slave to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from the farmers.
3. But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
4. Again he sent another slave to them, and they hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.
5. Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; they beat some and they killed some.
6. “He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7. “But those tenant farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours! ’
8. So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9. “Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers and give the vineyard to others.