Book of Common Prayer

ק Qoph

ר Resh

ש Sin and Shin

ת Taw

Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

Psalm 129

A song of ascents.

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

⁴¹ The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal,^(A) and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.^(B)

Balaam’s First Message

23 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams^(C) for me.” ² Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.^(D)

³ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me.^(E) Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

⁴ God met with him,^(F) and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵ The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth^(G) and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”^(H)

⁶ So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.^{(I) 7} Then Balaam^(J) spoke his message:^(K)

¹¹ Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies,^(V) but you have done nothing but bless them!”^(W)

¹² He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”^(X)

¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^(A) to bring about my death,^(B) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(C) sold^(D) as a slave to sin.^{(E) 15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{(F) 16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{(G) 17} As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{(H) 18} For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a](I) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^{(J) 20} Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^(K)

²¹ So I find this law at work:^(L) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being^(M) I delight in God’s law;^{(N) 23} but I see another law at work in me, waging war^(O) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^(P) at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^{(Q) 25} Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^(R)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^(S) but in my sinful nature^[b] a slave to the law of sin.^(T)

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^(B) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^(C) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^{(D) 34} When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^(E) to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(F) 36} Then he sent other servants^(G) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(H) Come, let’s kill him^(I) and take his inheritance.’^{(J) 39} So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”^(K) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(L) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^(N) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[b](O)

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.^(P)