Jesus then began to tell the people the following parable: "A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time. At vintage time he sent a servant to the tenant farmers to receive his share of the crop from them; but they beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He sent a second servant whom they also beat. Him too they sent away empty-handed, after treating him shamefully. He sent still a third, whom they likewise maltreated before driving him away. The owner of the vineyard asked himself, 'What am I to do now? Perhaps if I send the son I love, they will respect him.'
"But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they reflected, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.' With that, they dragged him outside the vineyard and killed him. What fate do you suppose the owner of the vineyard has in store for them? I will tell you. He will make an end to those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others."
When they heard this they said, "God forbid!" He looked directly at them and said, "What do the Scriptures mean when they say,
'The stone which the builders rejected
has become the keystone of the structure'?
The man who falls on that stone wil be smashed to pieces. It will make dust of anyone on whom it falls."