One Year Bible.

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

¹Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

²At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. ³But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully.

⁵He sent still another, and this one they killed.

He sent many others; some they beat and others they killed.

⁶Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

⁷But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they seized the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you never read this Scripture:

‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

¹¹This is from the Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹²At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹³Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words. ¹⁴“Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and seek favor from no one. Indeed, You are impartial and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?”

¹⁵But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to inspect.” ¹⁶So they brought it, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they answered.

¹⁷Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

And they marveled at Him.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

¹⁸Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him: ¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁰Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died, leaving no children. ²¹Then the second one married the widow, but he also died and left no children. And the third did likewise. ²²In this way, none of the seven left any children. And last of all, the woman died. ²³In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.”

²⁴Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven.

²⁶But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

The Greatest Commandment

²⁸Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

³²“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, ³³and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

And no one dared to question Him any further.

Whose Son Is the Christ?

³⁵While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? ³⁶Speaking by the Holy Spirit, David himself declared:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand

until I put Your enemies

under Your feet.”’

³⁷David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ So how can He be David’s son?”

And the large crowd listened to Him with delight.

Beware of the Scribes

³⁸In His teaching Jesus also said, “Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹and to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁰They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Offering

⁴¹As Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury, He watched the crowd putting money into it. And many rich people put in large amounts. ⁴²Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius.

⁴³Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury. ⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

The Prophet’s Afflictions

¹I am the man who has seen affliction

under the rod of God’s wrath.

²He has driven me away and made me walk

in darkness instead of light.

³Indeed, He keeps turning His hand

against me all day long.

⁴He has worn away my flesh and skin;

He has shattered my bones.

⁵He has besieged me and surrounded me

with bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me dwell in darkness

like those dead for ages.

⁷He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

He has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help,

He shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has barred my ways with cut stones;

He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is a bear lying in wait,

a lion hiding in ambush.

¹¹He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;

He left me without help.

¹²He bent His bow

and set me as the target for His arrow.

¹³He pierced my kidneys

with His arrows.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people;

they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness;

He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He has ground my teeth with gravel

and trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷My soul has been deprived of peace;

I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,

along with my hope from the LORD.”

The Prophet’s Hope

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering,

the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰Surely my soul remembers

and is humbled within me.

²¹Yet I call this to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

²²Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed,

for His mercies never fail.

²³They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness!

²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in Him.”

²⁵The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

to the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is still young.

²⁸Let him sit alone in silence,

for the LORD has laid it upon him.

²⁹Let him bury his face in the dust—

perhaps there is still hope.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;

let him be filled with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will not

cast us off forever.

³²Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion

according to His abundant loving devotion.

³³For He does not willingly afflict

or grieve the sons of men.

³⁴To crush underfoot

all the prisoners of the land,

³⁵to deny a man justice

before the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit—

of these the Lord does not approve.

God’s Justice

³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸Do not both adversity and good

come from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should any mortal man complain,

in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways,

and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled;

You have not forgiven.”

⁴³You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;

You have killed without pity.

⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud

that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us scum and refuse

among the nations.

⁴⁶All our enemies

open their mouths against us.

⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us —

devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyes

over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My eyes overflow unceasingly,

without relief,

⁵⁰until the LORD

looks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹My eyes bring grief to my soul

because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²Without cause my enemies

hunted me like a bird.

⁵³They dropped me alive into a pit

and cast stones upon me.

⁵⁴The waters flowed over my head,

and I thought I was going to die.

⁵⁵I called on Your name, O LORD,

out of the depths of the Pit.

⁵⁶You heard my plea:

“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷You drew near when I called on You;

You said, “Do not be afraid.”

⁵⁸You defend my cause, O Lord;

You redeem my life.

⁵⁹You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;

vindicate my cause!

⁶⁰You have seen all their malice,

all their plots against me.

⁶¹O LORD, You have heard their insults,

all their plots against me —

⁶²the slander and murmuring of my assailants

against me all day long.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise,

see how they mock me in song.

⁶⁴You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,

according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;

may Your curse be upon them!

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them

from under Your heavens, O LORD.

The Distress of Zion

¹How the gold has become tarnished,

the pure gold has become dull!

The gems of the temple lie scattered

on every street corner.

²How the precious sons of Zion,

once worth their weight in pure gold,

are now esteemed as jars of clay,

the work of a potter’s hands!

³Even jackals offer their breasts

to nurse their young,

but the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like an ostrich in the wilderness.

⁴The nursing infant’s tongue

clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth.

Little children beg for bread,

but no one gives them any.

⁵Those who once ate delicacies

are destitute in the streets;

those brought up in crimson

huddle in ash heaps.

⁶The punishment of the daughter of my people

is greater than that of Sodom,

which was overthrown in an instant

without a hand turned to help her.

⁷Her dignitaries were brighter than snow,

whiter than milk;

their bodies were more ruddy than rubies,

their appearance like sapphires.

⁸But now their appearance is blacker than soot;

they are not recognized in the streets.

Their skin has shriveled on their bones;

it has become as dry as a stick.

⁹Those slain by the sword are better off

than those who die of hunger,

who waste away, pierced with pain

because the fields lack produce.

¹⁰The hands of compassionate women

have cooked their own children,

who became their food

in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The LORD has exhausted His wrath;

He has poured out His fierce anger;

He has kindled a fire in Zion,

and it has consumed her foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe,

nor any people of the world,

that an enemy or a foe

could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³But this was for the sins of her prophets

and the guilt of her priests,

who shed the blood of the righteous

in her midst.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets,

defiled by this blood,

so that no one dared

to touch their garments.

¹⁵“Go away! Unclean!”

men shouted at them.

“Away, away! Do not touch us!”

So they fled and wandered.

Among the nations it was said,

“They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁶The presence of the LORD has scattered them;

He regards them no more.

The priests are shown no honor;

the elders find no favor.

¹⁷All the while our eyes were failing

as we looked in vain for help.

We watched from our towers

for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸They stalked our every step,

so that we could not walk in our streets.

Our end drew near, our time ran out,

for our end had come!

¹⁹Those who chased us were swifter

than the eagles in the sky;

they pursued us over the mountains

and ambushed us in the wilderness.

²⁰The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life,

was captured in their pits.

We had said of him,

“Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

²¹So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom,

you who dwell in the land of Uz.

Yet the cup will pass to you as well;

you will get drunk and expose yourself.

²²O Daughter of Zion, your punishment is complete;

He will not prolong your exile.

But He will punish your iniquity, O Daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins.