Luke 20:16

Luke 20:16, in plain English

Jesus answers: the owner will come, destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others. The people gasp: 'May this never happen!' They get it.

Why it's here

The crowd realizes what Jesus is saying: God's kingdom could be taken from them and given to others. The thought horrifies them — but Jesus isn't done.

Who's speaking

Jesus pronounces the parable's verdict, and the crowd reacts with visible dread.

Where it sits in the story

The verdict lands like a thunderbolt. The vineyard — Israel's special place with God — given to someone else? The crowd can barely process it. But Jesus has one more thing to say.

The scholarly reading

Jesus answers His own question: the owner will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. The crowd's horrified response — 'May it never be!' (mē genoito) — reveals they understand the parable's implications.

Language and setting

The transfer of the vineyard to 'others' (allois) represents the extension of God's kingdom beyond Israel's current leadership to a new community. The crowd's mē genoito shows they grasp the threat to their national identity.

Voice

Jesus pronounces judgment on the parable's tenants, and the people react with horror at the implications.

Significance

Jesus delivers the verdict: the tenants die and the vineyard goes to others. The crowd understands the terrifying implication — God might take His kingdom away from them and give it to someone else.

14But when the tenants saw the son, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’

15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

16He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

17But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

18Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Read all of Luke 20 — The religious leaders challenge Jesus' authority. He answers with a parable about murderous tenants that leaves them furious and afraid.