Mark 12:1

An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

Jesus began speaking to them [i.e., to the leading priests and experts in the Law of Moses (See 11:18) or, to the people (See Luke 20:19)] by using parables. He said, “A man planted a vineyard and built a fence around it. He dug a place for constructing a grape squeezing device, built a [lookout] tower [near it], then leased it out to tenant farmers and went to another country.

Cross References

Mark 13:34

It is like a man who left his house on a trip to another country. [Before leaving] he put his servants in charge of his affairs, giving each one a [particular] job to do, then he ordered the gatekeeper to stay alert [i.e., while he was gone].

Mark 4:2

He taught the people many things using parables [to illustrate His lessons]. In His teaching He said to them,

Matthew 25:14

“For the kingdom of heaven is similar to a man who planned to go on a trip to a distant country, so called his servants and entrusted to each of them a large sum of money [Note: The narrative that follows suggests that the man was turning over some of his assets to financial managers to invest for him].

Acts 7:38

This is the man who was with our forefathers and with the assembly [of Hebrews] in the wilderness [after] the angel had spoken to him at Mt. Sinai. He [is the one] who received the living messages [from God at Mt. Sinai] and gave them to us.

Luke 19:12

So, He said, “A certain distinguished gentleman went to a distant country to receive a royal appointment [i.e., as king over a territory] and then return. [Note: This is the only parable of Jesus’ that correlates with a known incident; that of Herod’s son Archelaus going to Rome to receive from Caesar Augustus an appointment to rule over Judea, Samaria and Idumaea in 4 B.C. See Matt. 2:22].

Luke 15:13

And a few days later, this younger son gathered everything together and traveled to a distant country where he squandered his possessions in wild living.

Luke 8:10

And He said to them, “You [disciples] are being given an understanding of the secrets of the kingdom of God, but the rest of the people [are being told] in parables, so that [even though they appear to be] seeing, they will not [actually] see; and [even though they seem to] hear, they will not understand.

Matthew 21:28

But what do you think [about this]? A man had two sons; He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go to work in my vineyard today.’

Luke 22:9

And they said to Him, “Where do you want us to prepare [for it]?”

Matthew 13:3

And He spoke many things to them in parables [i.e., brief stories to illustrate His teaching], saying, “once a farmer went out [to his field] to plant grain.

Matthew 21:33

“Listen to another parable [i.e., a brief story used to illustrate His teaching]: There was the owner of a farm who planted a vineyard and built a fence around it. He constructed a grape squeezing device, built a [lookout] tower [near it], leased it to tenant farmers and then went to another country.

Matthew 21:34

And when the season for harvesting the grapes approached, the owner of the farm sent his slaves to the tenant farmers to arrange for delivery of his crop.

Mark 3:23

And He called them to Him and began speaking to them in parables [i.e., brief stories to illustrate His teaching], saying, “How can Satan drive out Satan?

Mark 11:33

So, they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know [where John got his authority to immerse].” Jesus replied to them, “[Then] neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things [i.e., miracles and teaching].”