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Matthew 21:34
ESV When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
NIV When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
NASB And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.
CSB When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit.
NLT At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.
KJV And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
NKJV Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

What does Matthew 21:34 mean?

Jesus is telling another parable about a vineyard. The vineyard in this story has been developed and is leased out by a landowner to some tenants. The landowner moves away to another country. When harvest time comes, he sends a servant to collect his part of the fruit from the farmers renting his vineyard. "His fruit" means his share of the crop. It is the rent the tenants rightly owe, and would have agreed to, for the use of the vineyard.

This parable shares similarities with a metaphor given to Isaiah by the Lord in Isaiah 5:1–7. As there, the owner of this vineyard is God, and the crop is Israel. Jesus, though, adds tenants to the story. Those tenants represent the Jewish religious leaders, the ones given responsibility for "tending" Israel. In a similar sense, Scripture sometimes refers to spiritual leaders as "shepherds," who are symbolically charged with protecting and guiding a flock of sheep.

In this story, the tenants will not respond well to the owner's attempts to claim what is owed to him.
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