Mark 12:1-12
Parable of the Vineyard Owner
1 Jesus began to speak to them [the chief priests, scribes and elders who were questioning Him] in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a (a)wall around it, and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; and he rented it out to tenant farmers and left the country.(A)
2 When the harvest season came he sent a (b)servant to the tenants, in order to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3 They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
4 Again he sent them another servant, and they [threw stones and] wounded him in the head, and treated him disgracefully.
5 And he sent another, and that one they killed; then many others—some they beat and some they killed.
6 He still had one man left to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 But those tenants said to each other, ‘This man is the heir! Come on, let us kill him [and destroy the evidence], and his inheritance will be ours!’
8 So they took him and killed him, and threw his body outside the vineyard.
9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and will give the vineyard to others.
10 Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders regarded as unworthy and rejected,
This [very stone] has become the chief Cornerstone
11
This [very stone] has become the chief Cornerstone
Footnotes:
a.
Mark 12:1: It was commonplace to pile up loose rocks to serve as a low wall around one’s property.
b.
Mark 12:2: The servants represent the prophets sent to Israel by God.