Matthew 21:33 · Bible study
Matthew 21:33 Commentary: Study: The Parable of the Vineyard
Greek · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the symbolism of the householder's actions in Matthew 21:33: the vineyard, hedge, winepress, tower, and tenants in this pivotal parable.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God planted and furnished Israel as his vineyard, but the religious leaders (tenants) rejected his servants and his Son, leading to judgment and transfer of the kingdom.
- Key words: oikodespotēs (householder = God), ampelōn (vineyard = Israel), phrēson humnō (hedge = divine protection), lēnon (winepress = law/sacrificial system), purgos (tower = temple), geōrgois (tenants = religious leaders).
- Main debate: Whether the tower and winepress have specific allegorical meanings or simply depict a fully equipped vineyard.
- Theological theme: Stewardship, judgment, the cost of rejecting God’s messengers, and God’s faithfulness in finding a people who bear fruit.
- Best use: Preach on accountability and God’s patience; teach small groups on the continuity of Old and New Testament; use in Lent or Holy Week to prepare for the cross.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
WEB World English Bible 2000
“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 it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
KJV King James Version 1769
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
`Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Hear ye another parable. There was a man, an householder, who planted a vineyard and made a hedge round about it and dug in it a press and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a strange country.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Oid otra parábola: Fué un hombre, padre de familia, el cual plantó una viña; y la cercó de vallado, y cavó en ella un lagar, y edificó una torre, y la dió á renta á labradores, y se partió lejos.
Ouvi outra parábola. Havia um homem, dono de uma propriedade. Ele plantou uma vinha, cercou- a, fundou nela um lagar, e construiu uma torre. Depois a arrendou a uns lavradores, e partiu-se para um lugar distante.
Écoutez une autre parabole. Il y avait un homme, maître de maison, qui planta une vigne. Il l’ entoura d’ une haie, y creusa un pressoir, et bâtit une tour; puis il l’ afferma à des vignerons, et quitta le pays.
Höret ein anderes Gleichnis: Es war ein Hausvater, der pflanzte einen Weinberg und führte einen Zaun darum und grub eine Kelter darin und baute einen Turm und tat ihn den Weingärtnern aus und zog über Land.
Hoort een andere gelijkenis. Er was een heer des huizes, die een wijngaard plantte, en zette een tuin daarom, en groef een wijnpersbak daarin, en bouwde een toren, en verhuurde dien den landlieden, en reisde buiten 's lands.
Udite un’altra parabola: Vi era un padron di casa, il quale piantò una vigna e le fece attorno una siepe, e vi scavò un luogo da spremer l’uva, e vi edificò una torre; poi l’allogò a de’ lavoratori, e se n’andò in viaggio.
Drugiego podobieństwa słuchajcie: Człowiek niektóry był gospodarzem, który nasadził winnicę, i płotem ją ogrodził, i wkopał w niej prasę, i zbudował wieżę, i najął ją winiarzom, i odjechał precz.
Выслушайте другую притчу: был некоторый хозяин дома, который насадил виноградник, обнес его оградою, выкопал в нем точило, построил башню и, отдав его виноградарям, отлучился.
「你們再聽 一個 比喻：有 個 家主 栽了 一個葡萄園， 周圍圈上 籬笆， 裡面 挖了 一個壓酒池， 蓋了 一座樓， 租給 園戶，就 往外國去了。
Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · Matthew 21:33
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across the supplied traditions agree on the core allegorical meaning of this verse. The householder (οἰκοδεσπότης) represents God, and the vineyard is Israel, the people God planted and cultivated with care (Clarke, Gill, Calvin). The hedge (φραγμός) signifies divine protection, the winepress (ληνός) the law and sacrificial system, and the tower (πύργος) the temple where God’s presence dwelt (Wesley, Clarke). The tenants (γεωργοῖς) are the religious leaders, priests, scribes, elders, entrusted with the vineyard’s care. The householder’s departure (ἀπεδήμησεν) indicates that God, while remaining sovereign, entrusted Israel’s spiritual leadership to these human caretakers. This parable directly echoes Isaiah 5:1, 7, as nearly every commentator notes (Barnes, Cambridge Bible, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown). Calvin states that the point is to show how wickedly the priests defrauded God and to prepare the disciples for the coming rejection of Christ. There is strong consensus that the verse sets up a narrative of divine generosity, human rebellion, and coming judgment.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Full allegorical reading: Each detail (vineyard, hedge, winepress, tower, tenants) corresponds to specific elements of Israel’s history (temple, law, divine protection, leaders) based on Isaiah 5 and the context of Matthew 21.
- Limited allegory: Some commentators (Cambridge Bible) argue that the winepress and tower are simply realistic agricultural details without pointing to a specific meaning; the parable’s force lies in the plot, not the physical details.
What is clear: God is the owner who provides richly; the tenants (Israel’s leaders) reject his messengers and his Son; the kingdom is given to another people who will produce fruit.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Identity of the householder | All traditions agree the householder represents God, specifically the Father. | Some Reformed writers (Calvin, Gill) focus on God the Father as master of the house; others (Clarke) also see Christ as the householder in subsequent applications. |
| Identity of the tenants | All agree the tenants are the religious leaders of Israel (chief priests, scribes, Pharisees) to whom God entrusted spiritual care. | The extent to which the parable applies to church leaders today is debated: some see a direct analogy to unfaithful ministers, while others limit it to the first-century Jewish leadership. |
| Meaning of the tower and winepress | All agree these details show the completeness of God’s provision for Israel. | Some (Clarke, Wesley) assign specific meanings: tower = temple, winepress = law/sacrificial rites. Others (Cambridge Bible, Barnes) argue they have no special allegorical significance beyond describing a well-equipped vineyard. |
| The new tenants (v.41) | All agree the new tenants are a people or community that will produce fruit for God. | Some traditions identify them exclusively with the Gentile church; others emphasize a faithful remnant from Israel plus the nations. Both agree the new community is defined by faithfulness, not ethnicity. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This parable sits within Jesus’ final confrontation with the chief priests and elders in the temple precincts (Matthew 21:23, 27, 45). It follows the Parable of the Two Sons and directly precedes the Parable of the Wedding Feast, forming a trilogy of judgment parables. The imagery comes directly from the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5, where the Lord of hosts plants a vineyard, digs a winepress, and looks for good grapes. By echoing that passage, Jesus frames his parable as a continuation of God’s complaint against Israel.
In first-century Judea, viticulture was a major industry. Vineyards were planted on terraced hillsides, often enclosed by a stone wall or a hedge of prickly pear (Barnes, Vincent). The winepress, ”digged” (ὤρυξεν ληνόν), was typically hewn out of solid limestone rock, with an upper basin for treading and a lower vat where the juice collected (Vincent, citing Thomson’s Land and Book). The tower (πύργος) was a permanent stone structure for watchmen, sometimes also used as a storehouse (Barnes, citing Hackett’s Illustrations of Scripture).
The tenancy system described, letting land out to farmers in exchange for a share of the harvest (ἐξέδετο γεωργοῖς), was common in the Roman world. Called metayage, it involved a contract where tenants paid a portion (often half) of the produce (Cambridge Bible). The owner “went abroad” (ἀπεδήμησεν) not necessarily to a distant country, but simply away from the property, leaving it in the tenants’ management. Jesus’ audience would recognize this arrangement as standard and would also recognize the behavior of the tenants as egregious theft and violence.
The chief priests understood immediately that Jesus spoke about them (Matthew 21:45). They were the tenants entrusted with God’s vineyard, Israel, for centuries, yet they had resisted the prophets (cf. 1 Kings 22:19; Deuteronomy 33:10 on the priests’ teaching role) and would soon reject the Son himself.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Matthew 21:33. The verse is well-attested across manuscripts. The Cambridge Bible mentions that the phrase “went into a far country” (rendered in WEB, KJV) is interpretive; the Greek simply reads ἀπεδήμησεν (“he went abroad”). The original text does not specify distance.
Reception History
From the earliest centuries, Christians read this parable as an allegory of God’s dealings with Israel and the unfolding plan of salvation. Irenaeus and Origen taught that the tenants were the Jewish rulers and that the new tenants represented the apostles and the church. Augustine, in his Harmony of the Gospels, pointed to the parable as a model of God’s patience. During the Reformation, Calvin and the Genevan tradition applied it as a warning against unfaithful clergy, arguing that all who claim to lead God’s people must produce the fruits of righteousness. Matthew Henry and Wesley, in the English tradition, read it pastorally, emphasizing that God’s gifts come with accountability. In modern interpretation, some scholars (e.g., Jeremias) have stressed the parable’s historical grounding in first-century land-tenure practices. Across traditions, the parable has been used in Holy Week liturgy to highlight the rejection of Christ and the inclusion of the Gentiles.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Generous provision: The householder spares nothing, he plants, hedges, digs, builds, and entrusts everything to the tenants. This pictures God’s lavish care for Israel (and the church).
- Rebellious fraud: The tenants beat, kill, and stone the servants and finally murder the son. Their aim is to seize the inheritance for themselves. This mirrors the religious leaders’ rejection of the prophets and Jesus.
- Righteous judgment: The owner returns, destroys the tenants, and gives the vineyard to others. This points to the removal of God’s kingdom from unfaithful leaders and its transfer to a people who bear fruit.
Five-point outline
- The householder’s preparation (v.33a): every detail of the vineyard is provided; God does not withhold anything necessary for fruitfulness.
- The tenants’ trust (v.33b): the owner’s absence is a test of faithfulness, not negligence.
- The servants’ mission (vv.34, 36): the prophets are sent again and again, even after repeated abuse.
- The son’s arrival (v.37): Jesus is the final messenger, the beloved son, sending him is a risk of immense grace.
- The new tenants (vv.40, 43): the vineyard is taken from those who reject the son and given to a people (the church, Jew and Gentile) who will yield fruit in due season.
Illustration hooks
- A landlord gives a beautiful, fully equipped farm to a young couple. They stop paying rent, turn away the landlord’s agents, and even plan to claim the property as their own. Everyone can sense the injustice.
- A parent leaves a teenager in charge of the house for a weekend with clear instructions. The teen invites friends over, trashes the place, and locks the door when the parent returns early. The story resonates with broken trust and misplaced entitlement.
- In many cultures today, tenant farmers work land they will never own; the landowner-tenant relationship carries tensions of power, duty, and fairness. This parable taps into those tensions.
Questions your congregation is asking
- “Is this parable about Israel only, or does it apply to the church today?”
- “Why does the householder send so many servants? Couldn’t he have punished the tenants earlier?”
- “What fruit is God looking for from us, and how do we know we are producing it?”
Leading a Discussion
This parable is a sharp story about stewardship and accountability. God had given Israel everything, the land, the law, the temple, the prophets. The leaders (the tenants) were supposed to represent God to the people and produce the fruit of righteousness. Instead, they exploited their position and rejected God’s messengers. The parable forces us to ask: What has God entrusted to us, and what are we doing with it?
Discussion questions
- What does each detail in verse 33 (planting, hedging, winepress, tower, leasing out, going away) tell you about the householder’s character and intentions?
- Why do you think Jesus chose the vineyard imagery from Isaiah 5? How does that connection deepen the meaning?
- The tenants respond to the servants with violence. What does that reveal about their view of the householder?
- What does it mean that the householder “went into another country”? Was he neglectful, or was he trusting?
- In what ways can religious leaders (including pastors, teachers, and church leaders today) fall into the same patterns as the tenants?
- Jesus ends the parable by saying the kingdom will be given to a nation “bringing forth the fruits.” What kind of fruit do you think he means?
- How does this parable challenge you personally about how you treat what God has given you, your time, gifts, relationships, and church?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Deuteronomy 1:15 | So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. |
| Deuteronomy 1:17 | You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.” |
| Deuteronomy 16:18 | You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. |
| Deuteronomy 17:9 | You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. |
| Deuteronomy 17:12 | The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel. |
| Deuteronomy 33:8 | About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah. |
| Deuteronomy 33:10 | They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar. |
| I Kings 22:19 | Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke provides two layers of interpretation for the parable but warns that the Christian application does not fit neatly. He highlights a difficulty: if applied to Christianity, the husbandmen would include not just faithful ministers but also persecutors like inquisitors who harm Christ in his followers.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin’s distinctive point is that this parable serves two purposes: to expose the priests’ wicked ingratitude and to prepare the weak for Christ’s death by showing it follows a long pattern of prophets being killed. God appoints pastors as tenants, not owners, so their abuse will not go unpunished.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible commentary stresses that this parable interprets itself through familiar Old Testament imagery: the vineyard is Israel, the householder is God, and the husbandmen are the Jewish leaders. It notes that details like the winepress and tower carry no special allegorical meaning, serving only as realistic farming features.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Heare another parable, There was a certaine housholder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and made a winepresse therein, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a strange countrey.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill interprets every detail of the parable as a precise allegory of Israel's history: the householder is God, the vineyard is Israel, the hedge is the law and God's protection, the winepress is the altar or the prophets, and the tower is Jerusalem or the temple. He draws extensively on Jewish sources to ground each symbol.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that this parable deliberately echoes Isaiah 5 to anchor its meaning in Old Testament authority. The householder is God, the vineyard is Israel, and the husbandmen are the ordinary spiritual leaders responsible for cultivating righteousness. The "far country" represents the long duration of the Jewish economy.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange emphasizes that the Sanhedrin's question was a hostile attack disguised as official procedure—a rebellion in the guise of strict legality. Jesus' counter-question about John's baptism forces them to confess ignorance, thereby exposing their unbelief and proving they have lost all legitimate theocratic authority.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that the parable lays bare the full extent of human rebellion: the householder sent many servants, then his son, yet the tenants killed even him. The result is a complete forfeiture of privilege; the kingdom is given to those who will bear fruit. God's patience has a limit.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent brings out the physical realities of a first-century Judean vineyard: the hedge of thorny wild aloe, the winepress hewn from solid rock with its basins and channels, and the permanent stone tower for watchmen. He notes these details match archaeological descriptions and that the lease was likely hereditary, requiring tenants to pay the owner a fixed portion of the crop each season.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley reads the parable as an allegory of God's dealings with Israel. The vineyard is the Church planted in Canaan, the hedge stands for the law and God's protecting care, the wine press is Jerusalem, the tower is the temple, and the distant country represents God's decision to leave the vineyard's keepers to their own choices.