⁴¹ And in the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw a fraction of the people.

Balaam's First Oracle

23 And Balaam said to Balak, ^(A)“Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ² Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam ^(B)offered on each altar a bull and a ram. ³ And Balaam said to Balak, ^(C)“Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come ^(D)to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, ^4 (E)and God met Balaam. And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” ⁵ And the Lord ^(F)put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶ And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷ And Balaam ^(G)took up his discourse and said,

¹¹ And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^(P)I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹² And he answered and said, ^(Q)“Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

¹³ Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(A)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(B)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(C)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(D)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(E)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (F)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(G)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(H)I delight in the law of God, ^(I)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(J)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(K)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

The Parable of the Tenants

^33 (A)“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ^(B)a vineyard ^(C)and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and ^(D)leased it to tenants, and ^(E)went into another country. ³⁴ When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants^[a] to the tenants ^(F)to get his fruit. ^35 (G)And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and ^(H)stoned another. ^36 (I)Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ^(J)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(K)let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him and ^(L)threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ^40 (M)When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ They said to him, ^(N)“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and ^(O)let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

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

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God ^(R)will be taken away from you and given to a people ^(S)producing its fruits. ⁴⁴ And ^(T)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and ^(U)when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”^[c]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And ^(V)although they were seeking to arrest him, ^(W)they feared the crowds, because they held him to be ^(X)a prophet.