Luke 20:9-19

The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen

⁹ He began to tell the people this parable. “A [1]man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. ¹⁰ At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty. ¹¹ He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. ¹² He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out. ¹³ The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ “But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵ They threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.”

When they heard it, they said, “May it never be!” ¹⁷ But he looked at them, and said, “Then what is this that is written,

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
the same was made the chief cornerstone?’ [2]
¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,
but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹ The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.