1 Jesus began to speak to the people by using stories. He said, "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He dug a pit for a winepress. He also built a lookout tower. He rented the vineyard out to some farmers. Then he went away on a journey.
2 "At harvest time he sent a servant to the renters. He told the servant to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3 But they grabbed the servant and beat him up. Then they sent him away with nothing.
4 So the man sent another servant to the renters. They hit this one on the head and treated him badly.
5 The man sent still another servant. The renters killed him. The man sent many others. The renters beat up some of them. They killed the others.
6 "The man had one person left to send. It was his son, and he loved him. He sent him last of all. He said, 'They will respect my son.'