1 Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug out a pit for a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went away.
2 At harvest time he sent a slave to the farmers to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard from the farmers.
3 But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
4 Again he sent another slave to them, and they hit him on the head and treated him shamefully.
5 Then he sent another, and they killed that one. He also sent many others; they beat some and they killed some.
6 “He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But those tenant farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours! ’