Matthew 21:33-46

The Triumphal Entry

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to vine-growers and went on a journey. ³⁴And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴²Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘A stone which the builders rejected, This has become the chief cornerstone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶And although they sought to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a prophet.