Luke 20:9-19

New Catholic Bible

The Parable of the Tenants.^{[a] 9} Then Jesus began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and went off on a journey for a long period.

¹⁰ “When the time arrived, he sent a servant to the tenants to receive his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Again, he sent another servant, but him they also beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹² Then he sent a third servant, but him too they wounded and cast out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ And so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and put those tenants to death and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” ¹⁷ But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken into pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.”

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests realized that this parable was directed at them, and they wanted to seize him at that very hour, but they feared the people.