Rented it out to some tenants, and then left home for a long time.

When the time came to gather the grapes,

he sent a slave to the tenants,

to receive from them his share of the harvest.

But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing.

So he sent another slave. but the tenants beat him, too,

treated him shamefully and sent him back without a thing.

Then he sent a third slave.

But the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out.

Then the owner of the vineyard said to himself,

What shall I do? I will send my own dear son.

Surely they will respect him.

But when the tenants saw him coming,

they said to one another,

This is the owner's son.

Let's kill him and his property will be ours.

Tell us more, Lord!

So they threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants?

He will come and kill those men

and give the vineyard over to other tenants.

What, then, does this Scripture mean?

The stone which the builders rejected as worthless,

Turned out to be the most important stone of all.

Everyone who falls on that stone will be cut to pieces.

And if that stone falls on someone,

it will crush him to dust.