The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Matthew 21

Matthew 21:33 Listen to another parable. There was a man, the father of a family, who planted a vineyard, and surrounded it with a hedge, and dug a press in it, and built a tower. And he loaned it out to farmers, and he set out to sojourn abroad.

Matthew 21:34 Then, when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, so that they might receive its fruits.

Matthew 21:35 And the farmers apprehended his servants; they struck one, and killed another, and stoned yet another.

Matthew 21:36 Again, he sent other servants, more than before; and they treated them similarly.

Matthew 21:37 Then, at the very end, he sent his son to them, saying: ‘They will revere my son.’

Matthew 21:38 But the farmers, seeing the son, said among themselves: ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and then we will have his inheritance.’

Matthew 21:39 And apprehending him, they cast him outside the vineyard, and they killed him.

Matthew 21:40 Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard arrives, what will he do to those farmers?”

Matthew 21:41 They said to him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and he will loan out his vineyard to other farmers, who shall repay to him the fruit in its time.”