Bible verses about "vineyards" | Williams

³³ "Listen to another story. There was once an owner of an estate who planted a vineyard and built a fence around it, and hewed out a wine-vat in it, and built a tower, and rented it to tenant farmers, and then went abroad. ³⁴ But when the time for gathering grapes was near, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his rent. ³⁵ But the tenants took his slaves and beat the first one, killed the second, and stoned the third. ³⁶ Again he sent other slaves, and more than at first, and they treated them exactly the same way. ³⁷ At last he sent his son to them, for he said to himself, 'They will surely respect my son.' ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is his heir, come on, let us kill him, and get all that is coming to him!' ³⁹ So they took him and drove him out of the vineyard and murdered him. ⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the estate comes back, what will he do to these tenants?" ⁴¹ They answered, "In vengeance he will put the scoundrels to death, and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will promptly pay him the rent."

⁶ Then He told them this story: "A man had a fig tree planted by his vineyard, and he kept going and looking for figs on it, but did not find any. ⁷ So he said to the vine-dresser, 'Look here! for three years I have been coming to look for figs on this fig tree, and have not found any. Cut it down. Why waste the ground with it?' ⁸ But he answered, 'Leave it, sir, just one more year, till I dig around it and manure it. ⁹ If it bears figs in the future, well; but if not, you will have to cut it down.'"

¹ "For the kingdom of heaven is like an owner of an estate who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² When he had contracted with the laborers at twenty cents a day, he sent them off to his vineyard. ³ He went out again about nine o'clock and found others standing around doing nothing. ⁴ So he said to them, 'You too go out to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is right.' And they went. ⁵ Again he went out about twelve o'clock and three o'clock, and did as before. ⁶ About five he went out again and found still others standing around, and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?' ⁷ They answered him, 'Because nobody has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go out to my vineyard.' ⁸ "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' ⁹ And they who had been hired at five o'clock came and received twenty cents each. ¹⁰ And those who were hired first, when they came, supposed that they would receive more, but they too received twenty cents each. ¹¹ And as they received it, they began to grumble against the owner of the estate, ¹² and say, 'These last worked only one hour, and yet you have put them on the same footing with us who have borne the heavy burdens and scorching heat of the day.' ¹³ But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not contract with me at twenty cents? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give this man hired last as much as I do you. ¹⁵ Have I not the right to do what I please with my own money? Or, is your eye causing you to be covetous, because I am generous? ¹⁶ So those who are last now will be first then, and those first will be last."