They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”

I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²  But if it dies, it produces ³  much grain. ⁴ 

Then the Lord God commanded ¹  the man, “You may freely eat ²  fruit ³  from every tree of the orchard,

I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield ¹  the produce ²  for three years,

He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of their reproductive power. ¹ 

He handed the territory of nations over to them, and they took possession of what other peoples had produced, ¹ 

This is why the sky ¹  has held back its dew and the earth its produce. ² 

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. ¹ 

Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ¹  against you and he will close up the sky ²  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ³  from the good land that the Lord ⁴  is about to give you.

You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape ¹  her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.

All the stars in the sky will fade away, ¹  the sky will roll up like a scroll; all its stars will wither, like a leaf withers and falls from a vine or a fig withers and falls from a tree. ² 

For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us, ¹  “You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”’” ² 

Joy and gladness will disappear from the fruitful land of Moab. ¹  I will stop the flow of wine from the winepresses. No one will stomp on the grapes there and shout for joy. ²  The shouts there will be shouts of soldiers, not the shouts of those making wine. ³ 

After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit ¹  on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

When harvest time came, he sent a slave ¹  to the tenants so that they would give ²  him his portion of the crop. ³  However, the tenants beat his slave ⁴  and sent him away empty-handed.

They ¹  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ²  or lambs of your flocks ³  until they have destroyed you.

You destroy their offspring ¹  from the earth, their descendants ²  from among the human race. ³ 

The mountains will bring news of peace to the people, and the hills will announce justice. ¹ 

Before this I had been like a docile lamb ready to be led to the slaughter. I did not know they were making plans to kill me. ¹  I did not know they were saying, ²  “Let’s destroy the tree along with its fruit! ³  Let’s remove Jeremiah ⁴  from the world of the living so people will not even be reminded of him any more.” ⁵