Matthew 21:33-46

Expanded Bible

The Story of the Evil Farmers^(A)

³³ “Listen to ·this story [another parable]: There was a ·man who owned [landowner who planted] a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a ·hole [vat; pit] for a winepress and built a tower [^Cto protect against thieves; see Is. 5:1–7 for the background to this parable]. Then he leased the land to some [^Ctenant] farmers and left for a trip [^Cthe owner represents God, the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. ³⁴ When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent his ·servants [slaves] to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³⁵ But the farmers grabbed the ·servants [slaves], beat one, killed another, and then ·killed a third servant with stones [^Lstoned a third]. ³⁶ So the man sent some other ·servants [slaves] to the farmers, even more than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they had done before [^Cthe servants represent the prophets God sent to Israel]. ³⁷ ·So [^LFinally; Last of all] the man sent his son to the farmers [^Cthe son represents Jesus]. He said, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. Let’s kill him, and we will get his inheritance!’ ³⁹ Then the farmers grabbed the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ So what will the ·owner [lord] of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?”

⁴¹ ·The priests and leaders [^LThey] said, “He will ·surely kill those evil men [bring those wretches/evil men to a wretched/evil end]. Then he will lease the vineyard to some other farmers who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time [^Creferring to the sinners who were responding to Jesus’ call for repentance, and eventually to the Gentiles who would be saved].”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “·Surely you have read [^LHaven’t you ever read…?] this in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “·So [For this reason; Therefore] I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to ·people [a nation] who ·do the things God wants in his kingdom [^Lwill produce its fruit]. ⁴⁴ The person who ·falls on [stumbles over] this stone will be ·broken [shattered], and on whomever that stone falls, that person will be crushed.”^[a]

⁴⁵ When the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the Pharisees heard these ·stories [parables], they knew Jesus was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They ·wanted [were seeking/trying] to arrest him, but they were afraid of the ·people [crowds], because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.