But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.

But the husbandmen said one to another: This is the heir; come let us kill him; and the inheritance shall be ours.

and those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir, come, we may kill him, and ours shall be the inheritance;

But those farmers said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's.

"But those men - the vine-dressers - said to one another, "'Here is the heir: come, let us kill him, and then the property will one day be ours.'

But those workmen said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death, and the heritage will be ours.

But the settlers said one to another: 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him. And then the inheritance will be ours.'

But those tenants said to one another 'Here is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.'

This is the heir - So they appear to have acknowledged in their consciences that this was the Messiah, the heir of all things.
The inheritance shall be ours - By slaying him we shall maintain our authority, and keep possession of our revenues.

But those husbandmen said among themselves,.... This, in the Persic version, is introduced thus, "when the vine dressers saw the son of the lord of the vineyard": agreeably to Matthew 21:38. The Ethiopic version renders it, "and the servants said"; not the servants that had been sent, but the workmen in the vineyard:
this is the heir; that is, "of the vineyard", as the Persic version expresses it they knew him by the prophecies of the Old Testament which had described him, and by the miracles which were wrought by him; and they could not deny but that the vineyard of the house of Judah belonged to him, and he was right heir to the throne of Israel; though they refused to embrace him, confess him, and declare for him: but, on the other hand, said,
come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours; that is, "the vineyard", and the Persic version again read. The priests, Scribes, and elders of the people consulted together to take away his life, with this view: that they might continue in the quiet possession of their nation, temple, and worship, in the office they bore, and in the privileges they partook of; and that the Romans might not come, and take away their place and nation, John 11:47; See Gill on Matthew 21:38.