21:33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner ⁶  who planted a vineyard. ⁷  He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then ⁸  he leased it to tenant farmers ⁹  and went on a journey. 21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves ¹⁰  to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. ¹¹  21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, ¹²  killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. 21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, ¹³  saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 21:39 So ¹⁴  they seized him, ¹⁵  threw him out of the vineyard, ¹⁶  and killed him. 21:40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ¹⁷ 

This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? ¹⁸ 

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ¹⁹  who will produce its fruit. 21:44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” ²⁰  21:45 When ²¹  the chief priests and the Pharisees ²²  heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 21:46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds ²³  regarded him as a prophet.