Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 20:16

"He will come and destroy these husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid." — Luke 20:16 (ASV)

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen.—St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in putting these words into our Lord’s lips, and not, as St. Matthew does, into those of the bystanders.

They said, God forbid.—No other English phrase could well be substituted for this, but it is worth remembering that the name of God does not appear in the original, and that the exclamation is simply, as it were, a negative Amen, “So be it not.” Its insertion here is peculiar to St. Luke, nor does it occur elsewhere in the Gospels. St. Paul uses it frequently, as in Romans 3:4; Romans 3:6; Romans 3:31; Romans 6:2; Romans 6:15, and in other passages.