Judges 9:7-20

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, ^c‘Reign 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.’

16“Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^hJerubbaal and his house and have done to him ⁱas his deeds deserved— 17for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, 18and you have risen up against my father’s house this day ^jand have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made ^kAbimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, ^lbecause he is your relative— 19if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then ^mrejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 20But if not, ⁿlet fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.”

2 Samuel 12:1-7

Nathan Rebukes David

1And the Lord sent ^oNathan to David. He came to him and said to him, ^p“There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, ▼

▼Hebrew bosom; also verse 8

and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, ^r“As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6and he shall restore the lamb ^sfourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^t‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 14:5-7

5And the king said to her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, ^u“Alas, 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 ^vdestroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor ^wremnant on the face of the earth.”

Mark 12:1-12

The Parable of the Tenants

1 ^xAnd he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^ya vineyard ^zand put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^aaleased it to tenants and ^abwent into another country. 2When the season came, he sent a servant ▼

▼Greek bondservant; also verse 4

to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 ^adAnd they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 ^aeAgain ^afhe sent to them another servant, and ^agthey struck him on the head and ^ahtreated him shamefully. 5 ^aiAnd he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6He had still one other, ^aja beloved son. ^akFinally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7But those tenants said to one another, ^al‘This is the heir. Come, ^amlet us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8And they took him and killed him and ^anthrew him out of the vineyard. 9What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^aoHe will ^apcome and destroy the tenants and ^aqgive the vineyard to others. 10 ^arHave you not read ^asthis Scripture:

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

▼Greek  the head of the corner

11this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12And ^avthey were seeking to arrest him ^awbut feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^axleft him and went away.