Bible Strands
Matthew 21:34
When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the chief priests and Pharisees in the temple courts following his triumphal entry. He introduces the parable to illustrate God's repeated attempts to gather the expected results from Israel's religious leadership.
The words — ἤγγισεν (ēngisen) means "drew near," marking the approaching harvest season. ἀπέστειλεν (apesteilen) translates to "he sent," indicating the landowner's deliberate dispatch of his servants to collect the fruit.
The thread — The action of a landowner sending servants for fruit appears in Luke 20:10 and echoes the lament over Judah's unfruitfulness in Isaiah 5:4. Zechariah 1:3 frames this pattern as a call for the people to return to God.
Why it lands — The text states that the owner acts at a specific season to demand his share, before inferring that divine patience operates within a defined timeframe. It requires the reader to identify whether they are cultivating the expected fruit or resisting the owner's claim.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Cross-references
- Luke 20:10 At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.
- Isaiah 5:4 What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
- Zechariah 1:3 So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
- 2 Kings 17:13 Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:15 Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.
- Nehemiah 9:29 You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They turned a stubborn shoulder; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.
- Song of Solomon 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.
- Jeremiah 25:3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
- Zechariah 7:9 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
- Matthew 22:3 He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.