Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
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Mark 12:4-8 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.
Parallel Translations
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Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some.
Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
-
And moreoever he sent vnto them another servaunt and at him they cast stones and brake his heed and sent him agayne all to revyled.
And agayne he sent another and him they kylled: and many other beetynge some and kyllinge some.
Yet had he one sonne whom he loved tenderly him also he sent at the last vnto them sayinge: they wyll feare my sonne.
But the tenauntes sayde amongest them selves: this is the heyre: come let vs kyll hym and the inheritaunce shalbe oures.
And they toke him and kyllid him and cast him out of the vyneyarde.
Show all 3 translations
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And againe he sent vnto them another seruant, and at him they cast stones, and brake his head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
And againe he sent another, and him they slew, and many other, beating some, and killing some.
Yet had he one sonne, his deare beloued: him also he sent the last vnto them, saying, They will reuerence my sonne.
But ye husbandmen said among themselues, This is the heire: come, let vs kill him, and the inheritance shalbe ours.
So they tooke him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
Cross-references (56)
- Matthew 3:17 (v6) Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
- Matthew 21:33 (v8) “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in…
- Matthew 21:39 (v8) So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
- Luke 20:15 (v8) They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?
- Hebrews 1:1-2 (v6) God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken…
Show all 56 cross-references
- John 1:34 (v6) I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
- Hebrews 13:11-13 (v8) For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside…
- Genesis 3:15 (v7) I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise…
- Genesis 22:2 (v6) He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on…
- Genesis 22:12 (v6) He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,…
- Genesis 37:3 (v6) Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colors.
- Genesis 37:20 (v7) Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see…
- Nehemiah 9:30 (v5) Yet many years you put up with them, and testified against them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not listen. Therefore…
- Psalms 2:2-3 (v7) The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying, “Let’s break…
- Psalms 2:12 (v6) Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who…
- Psalms 22:12-15 (v7) Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and…
- Isaiah 42:1 (v6) “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
- Isaiah 49:7 (v7) Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers:…
- Isaiah 53:7-8 (v7) He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before…
- Jeremiah 7:25-28 (v5) Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up…
- Matthew 1:23 (v6) “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted,…
- Matthew 2:3-13 (v7) When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people,…
- Matthew 2:16 (v7) Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were…
- Matthew 5:12 (v5) Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- Matthew 11:27 (v6) All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the…
- Matthew 17:5 (v6) While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved…
- Matthew 21:35-36 (v5) The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they…
- Matthew 22:6 (v5) and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them.
- Matthew 23:37 (v5) “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children…
- Matthew 26:63 (v6) But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the…
- Mark 1:11 (v6) A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
- Mark 9:7 (v6) A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
- Mark 9:13 (v5) But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”
- Mark 12:12 (v7) They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went…
- Luke 3:22 (v6) and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you…
- Luke 6:22-23 (v5) Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice…
- Luke 6:36 (v5) “Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
- Luke 9:35 (v6) A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!”
- John 1:14 (v6) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:18 (v6) No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- John 1:49 (v6) Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
- John 3:16-18 (v6) For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For…
- John 3:35 (v6) The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
- John 5:23 (v6) that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 11:47-50 (v7) The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave…
- Acts 2:23 (v7) him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
- Acts 5:28 (v7) saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to…
- Acts 7:52 (v7) Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now…
- Acts 13:27-28 (v7) For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every…
- Hebrews 1:6 (v6) When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”
- 1 John 4:9 (v6) By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- 1 John 5:11-12 (v6) The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have…
- Revelation 5:9-13 (v6) They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
- Genesis 37:11-13 (v6) His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind. His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. Israel said to…
- Genesis 44:20 (v6) We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left…
- Psalms 2:7 (v6) I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 4 And again he sent unto them another servant;…
4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
Ver. 4. Wounded him in the head] Caput comminuerunt, they brake his head. Theophylact interpreteth it, They completed their villany, and spent all their spite upon him (συνετελεσαν και εκορυφωσαν την υβριν).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–8 And again he sent unto them another servant,.... Another…
And again he sent unto them another servant,.... Another set of good men, to instruct, advise, and counsel them, and exhort them to their duty; such as were Isaiah, Zechariah, and others:
and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head; for of these were stoned, as well as sawn asunder, and slain with the sword; though it seems, that this servant, or this set of men, were not stoned to death, because he was afterwards said to be sent away: nor could the stoning be what was done by the order of the sanhedrim, which was done by letting an heavy stone fail upon the heart (k); but this was done by all the people, by the outrageous zealots, in the manner Stephen was stoned. Dr. Lightfoot thinks, the usual sense of the Greek word may be retained; which signifies "to reduce", or "gather into a certain sum": and so as this servant was sent to reckon with these husbandmen, and take an account from them of the fruit of the vineyard, one cast a stone at him, saying, there is fruit for you; and a second cast another stone, saying the same thing; and so they went on one after another, till at last they said, in a deriding way, now the sum is made up with you:
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and sent him away shamefully handled; with great ignominy and reproach.
(k) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 Verse 4. At him they cast stones and wounded…
Verse 4. At him they cast stones and wounded him in the head] Or rather, as most learned men agree, they made short work of it, εκεφαλαιωσαν. We have followed the Vulgate, illum in capite vulneraverunt, in translating the original, wounded him in the head, in which signification, I believe, the word is found in no Greek writer. ανακεφαλαιοομαι signifies to sum up, to comprise, and is used in this sense by St. Paul, Ro 13:9. From the parable we learn that these people were determined to hear no reason, to do no justice, and to keep the possession and the produce by violence; therefore they fulfilled their purpose in the fullest and speediest manner, which seems to be what the evangelist intended to express by the word in question. Mr. Wakefield translates, They speedily sent him away; others think the meaning is, They shaved their heads and made them look ridiculously; this is much to the same purpose, but I prefer, They made short work of it. Dr. Lightfoot, De Dieu, and others, agree in the sense given above; and this will appear the more probable, if the word λιθοβολησαντες, they cast stones, be omitted, as it is by BDL, the Coptic, Vulgate, and all the Itala.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–8 From this it appears, that the chief priests and…
From this it appears, that the chief priests and lawyers were not ignorant that Christ was the Messias promised in the law and the prophets, but their knowledge was afterwards blinded by their envy: for otherwise, had they known him to be true God, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory, says St. Paul. For a further explanation, see St. Matthew xxi. (Ven. Bede)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8 4. wounded him in the head] The original word,…
4. wounded him in the head] The original word, which generally denotes to comprehend in one sum, or under one head, is nowhere else used in this sense. Some MSS. omit the words they cast stones, and instead of “sent him away shamefully handled,” read simply, “used him shamefully” (comp. 2Sa_10:4). Thus Jezebel “slew the prophets of the Lord” (1Ki_18:13); Micaiah was thrown into a dungeon by Ahab (1Ki_22:24-27); Elijah was threatened with death by Jezebel (1Ki_19:2); Elisha by Jehoram (2Ki_6:31); Zechariah was stoned at the commandment of Joash (2Ch_24:21; comp. 2Ch_36:16); Jeremiah was stoned by the exiles in Egypt; Isaiah, according to Jewish tradition, was sawn asunder (Heb_11:37-38; 2Ch_36:15-16).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 (4) At him they cast stones.—The participle so rendered…
(4) At him they cast stones.—The participle so rendered is wanting in the best MSS., and probably originated in a marginal note explaining how the labourers wounded the second servant.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v6 Vers. 6-8. Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved.…
Vers. 6-8. Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved. There is strong evidence in favor of a different reading here: namely (eti ena eicen uion), he had yet one, a beloved son. There is something very touching in this form of expression. Many messages had been sent; many means had been tried. But one other resource remained. "There is one, a beloved on. I will send him; they will, surely reverence him (entraphsontai ton mou). They will reflect, and reflection will bring shame and submission and reverence." This was the last effort of Divine mercy the sending of the Incarnate God, whom the Jews put to death without the city. St. Mark"s words seem rather to imply that they killed him within the vineyard, and cast out the dead body. But it is possible that in his narrative he mentions the climax firstthey killed him, and then returns to a detail of the dreadful tragedy; they cast him out of the vineyard, and there slew him (See Mat_21:39)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v6
Mark
GOD’S LAST ARROW
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Mar 12:6.
Reference to Isa 5:1 - Isa 5:30 There are differences in detail here which need not trouble us.
Isaiah’s parable is a review of the theocratic history of Israel, and clearly the messengers are the prophets; here Christ speaks of Himself and His own mission to Israel, and goes on to tell of His death as already accomplished.
I. The Son who follows and surpasses the servants.
{a} Our Lord here places Himself in the line of the prophets as coming for a similar purpose. The mission to Israel was the same. The mission of His life was the same.
The last words of the lawgiver certainly point to a person {Deu 18:18}: ‘A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me. Him shall ye hear.’ How ridiculous the cool superciliousness with which modern historical criticism ‘pooh-poohs’ that interpretation! But the contrast is quite as prominent as the resemblance. This saying is one which occurs in all the Synoptics, and is as full a declaration of Sonship as any in John’s Gospel. It reposes on the scene at the baptism {Mat 3:17}: ‘This is My beloved Son!’ Such a saying was well enough understood by the Jews to mean more than the ‘Messiah.’ It clearly involves kindred to the divine in a far other and higher sense than any prophet ever had it. It involves pre-existence. It asserts that He was the special object of the divine love, the ‘heir.’
You cannot relieve the New Testament Christ of the responsibility of having made such assertions. There they are! He did deliberately declare that He was, in a unique sense, ‘the Son’ on whom the love and complacency of the Father rested continually.
II. The aggravation of men’s sins as tending to the enhancement of the divine efforts.
The terrible Nemesis of evil is that it ever tends to reproduce itself in aggravated forms. Think of the influence of habit; the searing of conscience, so that we become able to do things that we would have shrunk from at an earlier stage. Remember how impunity leads to greater sin. So here the first servant is merely sent away empty, the second is wounded and disgraced, the third is killed. All evil is an inclined plane, a steady, downward progress. How beautifully the opposite principle of the divine love and patience is represented as striving with the increasing hate and resistance! According to Matthew, the householder sent other servants ‘more than the first,’ and the climax was that he sent his son. Mightier forces are brought to bear. This attraction increases as the square of the distance. The blacker the cloud, the brighter the sun; the thicker the ice, the hotter the flame; the harder the soil, the stronger the ploughshare. Note, too, the undertone of sacrifice and of yearning for the son which may be discerned in the ‘householder’s’ words. The son is his ‘dearest treasure,’ his mightiest gift, than which is nothing higher.
The mission of Christ is the ultimate appeal of God to men.
In the primary sense of the parable Jesus does close the history of the divine strivings with Israel. After Christ, the last of the prophets, the divine voice ceases; after the blaze of that light all is dark. There is nothing more remarkable in the whole history of the world than that cessation in an instant, as it were, of the long, august series of divine efforts for Israel. Henceforward there is an awful silence. ‘Forsaken Israel wanders lone.’
And the principle involved for us is the same.
‘Christ crucified’ is more than Christ miracle-working. That ‘more’ we have, as the Jews had. But if that avails not, then nothing else will.
He is ‘last’ because highest, strongest, and all-sufficient.
He is ‘last’ inasmuch as all since are but echoes of His voice and proclaimers of His grace.
He is ‘last’ as the eternal and the permanent, the ‘same for ever’ {Heb 13:8}. There are to be no new powers for the world; no new forces to draw men to God. God’s quiver is empty, His last bolt shot, His most tender appeal made.
III. The unwearied divine charity.
‘They will reverence My Son.’ May we not say this is a divine hope? It is not worth while to make a difficulty of the bold representation. It is but parallel to all the dealings of God with men; and it sets forth the possibility that He might have won Israel back to God and to obedience. It suggests the good faith and the earnestness with which God sent Him, and He came, to bring Israel back to God. But we are not to suppose that this divine hope excluded the divine purpose of His death or was inconsistent with that, for He goes on to speak of His death as if it were past {Mar 12:8}. This shows how distinctly He foreknew it.
Its highest aspect is not here, for it was not needed for the parable. ‘With wicked hands ye have crucified,’ etc., is true, as well as ‘I lay it down of Myself.’
Let us lay to heart the solemn love which warns by prophesying, tells what men are going to do in order that they may not do it {and what He will do in order that He may not have to do it}. And let us yield ourselves to the power of Christ’s death as God’s magnet for drawing us all back to Him; and as certain to bring about at last the satisfaction of the Father’s long-frustrated hope: ‘They will reverence my Son,’ and the fulfilment of the Son’s long-unaccomplished prediction: ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v6 Jesus Himself. Cf. Heb 1:1-3
son
Jesus Himself. Cf. Heb 1:1-3
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8 he sent to them
he sent to them
"the owner of the vineyard sent to the vine growers"
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they wounded him in the head
This can be written more clearly. AT: "they beat that one on the head, and they hurt him terribly" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
yet another ... many others
These phrases refer to other servants. AT: "yet another servant ... many other servants" (See: Ellipsis)
They treated many others in the same way
This refers to servants that the owner sent. The phrase "in the same way" refers to them being mistreated. This can be written clearly. AT: "They also mistreated many other servants whom he sent" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
servant
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6–8 12:6 Mark’s early readers would have immediately associated his…
12:6 Mark’s early readers would have immediately associated his son whom he loved dearly with Jesus (cp. 1:11; 9:7; see also 1:1; 3:11; 5:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.