Judges 9:7-15

7When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of aMount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 bThe trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, cReign over us.’ 9But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ 10And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 11But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ 12And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 13But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that dcheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ 14Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 15And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and etake refuge in my shade, but if not, flet fire come out of the bramble and devour gthe cedars of Lebanon.’

2 Samuel 14:5-11

5And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, hAlas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. 6And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. 7And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would idestroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor jremnant on the face of the earth.”

8Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” 9And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, kOn me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father’s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” 10The king said, “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” 11Then she said, “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that lthe avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” He said, m“As the Lord lives, nnot one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”

1 Kings 20:35-41

A Prophet Condemns Ben-hadad’s Release

35And a certain man of othe sons of the prophets said to his fellow pat the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, qa lion met him and struck him down. 37Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him. 38So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, rdisguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. 39And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, syour life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent
A  talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
of silver.’
40And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” 41Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

Isaiah 5:1-7

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had ua vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with vchoice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and whe looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 xWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
yWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove zits hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5

abI will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and acbriers and thorns shall grow up;
adI will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 aeFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
The Hebrew words for  justice and  bloodshed sound alike

for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
The Hebrew words for  righteous and  outcry sound alike

Matthew 21:33-45

The Parable of the Tenants

33 ahHear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted aia vineyard ajand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and akleased it to tenants, and alwent into another country. 34When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants
Greek bondservants; also verses 35, 36
to the tenants anto get his fruit.
35 aoAnd the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and apstoned another. 36 aqAgain 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, arThis is the heir. Come, aslet us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39And they took him and atthrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 auWhen therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, av“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and awlet out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

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

ay“‘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 bawill be taken away from you and given to a people bbproducing its fruits. 44And bcthe one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and bdwhen it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Some manuscripts omit verse 44


45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
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