Amos 5:18-20

Let Justice Roll Down

18 Woe to you who desire ^athe day of the Lord!
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
^bIt is darkness, and not light,
19 ^cas if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
20 ^dIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?

Malachi 4:1

The Great Day of the Lord

1 ▼

▼Ch 4:1–6 is ch 3:19–24 in Hebrew

“For behold, ^fthe day is coming, ^gburning like an oven, when ^hall the arrogant and ⁱall evildoers ^jwill be stubble. The day that is coming ^kshall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

Matthew 3:7-12

7But when he saw many of ^lthe Pharisees and ^mSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ⁿ“You brood of ^ovipers! Who warned you to flee from ^pthe wrath to come? 8Bear fruit ^qin keeping with repentance. 9And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^r‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^sthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^tEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 ^u“I baptize you with water ^vfor repentance, but ^whe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^xwith the Holy Spirit and ^yfire. 12His ^zwinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^aagather his wheat into the barn, ^abbut the chaff he will burn with ^acunquenchable fire.”

Matthew 21:31-44

31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^adthe tax collectors and ^aethe prostitutes go into ^afthe kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you ^agin the way of righteousness, and ^ahyou did not believe him, but ^aithe tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward ^ajchange your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

33 ^ak“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ^ala vineyard ^amand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and ^anleased it to tenants, and ^aowent into another country. 34When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants ▼

▼Greek bondservants; also verses 35, 36

to the tenants ^aqto get his fruit. 35 ^arAnd the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and ^asstoned another. 36 ^atAgain he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ^au‘This is the heir. Come, ^avlet us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39And they took him and ^awthrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 ^axWhen therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, ^ay“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and ^azlet out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

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

^bb“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone; ▼

▼Greek  the head of the corner

this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God ^bdwill be taken away from you and given to a people ^beproducing its fruits. 44And ^bfthe one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and ^bgwhen it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” ▼

▼Some manuscripts omit verse 44

Matthew 23:13-35

13“But woe ^bito you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you ^bjshut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you ^bkneither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. ▼

▼Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation

15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single ^bmproselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a ^bnchild of ^bohell ▼

▼Greek Gehenna; also verse 33

as yourselves.

16“Woe to ^bqyou, ^brblind guides, who say, ^bs‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or ^btthe temple that has made the gold sacred? 18And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by ^buthe gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or ^bvthe altar that makes the gift sacred? 20So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by ^bwhim who dwells in it. 22And whoever swears by ^bxheaven swears by ^bythe throne of God and by ^bzhim who sits upon it.

23 ^ca“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^cbyou tithe mint and dill and ^cccumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: ^cdjustice and mercy and faithfulness. ^ceThese you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing ^cfa camel!

25 ^cg“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^chyou clean the outside of ^cithe cup and the plate, but inside they are full of ^cjgreed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of ^ckthe cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27 ^cl“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like ^cmwhitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and ^cnall uncleanness. 28So you also ^cooutwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of ^cphypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 ^cq“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31Thus you witness against yourselves that you are ^crsons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 ^csFill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33You serpents, ^ctyou brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to ^cuhell? 34 ^cvTherefore ^cwI send you ^cxprophets and wise men and ^cyscribes, ^czsome of whom you will kill and crucify, and ^dasome you will ^dbflog in your synagogues and ^dcpersecute from town to town, 35so that on you may come all ^ddthe righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^deAbel to the blood of ^dfZechariah the son of Barachiah, ▼

▼Some manuscripts omit  the son of Barachiah

whom you murdered between ^dhthe sanctuary and ^dithe altar.

Matthew 25:10

10And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and ^djthose who were ready went in with him to ^dkthe marriage feast, and ^dlthe door was shut.

Luke 2:34

34And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed ^dmfor the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign ^dnthat is opposed