The Widow's Offering
Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully. Mark 12:4 · Berean Standard Bible
The owner tried again, sending another servant. This time the tenants hit him over the head and humiliated him. Things were getting worse.
Each servant represents another prophet God sent, and each one was treated worse than the last. God's patience is remarkable.
Jesus continues the parable's escalating narrative.
The pattern is heartbreaking: the owner keeps reaching out, and the tenants keep escalating their cruelty. Yet the owner still doesn't destroy them.
The escalation from beating to striking on the head (Greek: ekephalaiosan, possibly 'wounded in the head') and shameful treatment intensifies the pattern of violence against God's messengers.
Each successive servant represents another prophetic figure in Israel's history, with the increasing violence reflecting Israel's deepening rebellion against God.
Jesus continues the parable, describing the second servant's fate.
The owner's continued sending of servants despite mistreatment highlights divine patience, while the escalating violence foreshadows the ultimate rejection to come.
2At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
3But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
4Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully.
5He sent still another, and this one they killed.
6Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
Read all of Mark 12 — Trick questions from every direction, a scribe who almost gets it, and a poor widow who gives everything — two small coins that outweigh them all.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.
Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.
Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.
Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.
The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.
A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad