The Parable of the Tenants
33 q“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ra vineyard sand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and tleased it to tenants, and uwent into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants1 to the tenants tto get his fruit. 35 vAnd the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and wstoned another. 36 xAgain he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, y‘This is the heir. Come, zlet us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and athrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 bWhen therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, c“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and dlet out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, e“Have you never read in the Scriptures:
f“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;2
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God gwill be taken away from you and given to a people hproducing its fruits. 44 And ithe one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and jwhen it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”3
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And lalthough they were seeking to arrest him, mthey feared the crowds, because they held him to be na prophet.
The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had va vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with wchoice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and xhe looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove zits hedge,
and it shall be devoured;1
aI will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and bbriers and thorns shall grow up;
cI will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;2
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!3
4 sthough I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 tcircumcised on the eighth day, uof the people of Israel, vof the tribe of Benjamin, ua Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, wa Pharisee; 6 xas to zeal, ya persecutor of the church; zas to righteousness under the law,1 blameless. 7 But awhatever gain I had, bI counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of cthe surpassing worth of dknowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I ehave suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having fa righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but gthat which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 hthat I may know him and ithe power of his resurrection, and jmay share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may kattain the resurrection from the dead.
Straining Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already lobtained this or mam already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: nforgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for othe prize of the upward pcall of God in Christ Jesus.
