Bible verses about "vineyards" | WNT

³³ "Listen to another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, made a fence round it, dug a wine-tank in it, and built a strong lodge; then let the place to vine-dressers, and went abroad. ³⁴ When vintage-time approached, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to receive his share of the grapes; ³⁵ but the vine-dressers seized the servants, and one they cruelly beat, one they killed, one they pelted with stones. ³⁶ Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and these they treated in the same manner. ³⁷ Later still he sent to them his son, saying, "'They will respect my son.' ³⁸ "But the vine-dressers, when they saw the son, said to one another, "'Here is the heir: come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' ³⁹ "So they seized him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ When then the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers?" ⁴¹ "He will put the wretches to a wretched death," was the reply, "and will entrust the vineyard to other vine-dressers who will render the produce to him at the vintage season."

⁶ And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said, "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none. ⁷ So he said to the gardener, "'See, this is the third year I have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find any. Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually wasted?' ⁸ "But the gardener pleaded, "'Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it. ⁹ If after that it bears fruit, well and good; if it does not, then you shall cut it down.'"

¹ "For the Kingdom of the Heavens is like an employer who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard, ² and having made an agreement with them for a shilling a day, sent them into his vineyard. ³ About nine o'clock he went out and saw others loitering in the market-place. ⁴ To these also he said, "'You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' ⁵ "So they went. Again about twelve, and about three o'clock, he went out and did the same. ⁶ And going out about five o'clock he found others loitering, and he asked them, "'Why have you been standing here all day long, doing nothing?' ⁷ "'Because no one has hired us,' they replied. "'You also, go into the vineyard,' he said. ⁸ "When evening came, the master said to his steward, "'Call the men and pay them their wages. Begin with the last set and finish with the first.' ⁹ "When those came who had begun at five o'clock, they received a shilling apiece; ¹⁰ and when the first came, they expected to get more, but they also each got the shilling. ¹¹ So when they had received it, they grumbled against the employer, saying, ¹² "'These who came last have done only one hour's work, and you have put them on a level with us who have worked the whole day and have borne the scorching heat.' ¹³ "'My friend,' he answered to one of them, 'I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me for a shilling? ¹⁴ Take your money and go. I choose to give this last comer just as much as I give you. ¹⁵ Have I not a right to do what I choose with my own property? Or are you envious because I am generous?' ¹⁶ "So the last shall be first, and the first last."