Psalm 130

New International Version

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

¹Out of the depths^(A) I cry to you,^(B) Lord;
² Lord, hear my voice.^(C)
Let your ears be attentive^(D)
to my cry for mercy.^(E)

³If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?^(F)
⁴But with you there is forgiveness,^(G)
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.^(H)

⁵I wait for the Lord,^(I) my whole being waits,^(J)
    and in his word^(K) I put my hope.
⁶I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen^(L) wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.^(M)

⁷Israel, put your hope^(N) in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love^(O)
    and with him is full redemption.^(P)
⁸He himself will redeem^(Q) Israel
    from all their sins.^(R)

Numbers 22:41-23:12

New International Version

⁴¹The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal,^(A) and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.^(B)

Balaam’s First Message

23 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams^(C) for me.” ²Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.^(D)

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me.^(E) Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

⁴God met with him,^(F) and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth^(G) and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”^(H)

⁶So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.^(I) ⁷Then Balaam^(J) spoke his message:^(K)

“Balak brought me from Aram,^(L)
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.^(M)
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
    come, denounce Israel.’^(N)
⁸How can I curse
    those whom God has not cursed?^(O)
How can I denounce
    those whom the Lord has not denounced?^(P)
⁹From the rocky peaks I see them,
    from the heights I view them.^(Q)
I see a people who live apart
    and do not consider themselves one of the nations.^(R)
¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob^(S)
    or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,^(T)
    and may my final end be like theirs!^(U)”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies,^(V) but you have done nothing but bless them!”^(W)

¹²He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”^(X)

Romans 7:13-25

New International Version

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^(A) to bring about my death,^(B) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(C) sold^(D) as a slave to sin.^(E) ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^(F) ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^(G) ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^(H) ¹⁸For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a]^(I) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^(J) ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^(K)

²¹So I find this law at work:^(L) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being^(M) I delight in God’s law;^(N) ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war^(O) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^(P) at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^(Q) ²⁵Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^(R)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^(S) but in my sinful nature^[b] a slave to the law of sin.^(T)

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Footnotes

Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh

Matthew 21:33-46

New International Version

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^(B) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^(C) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^(D) ³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^(E) to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^(F) ³⁶Then he sent other servants^(G) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(H) Come, let’s kill him^(I) and take his inheritance.’^(J) ³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”^(K) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(L) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

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

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’^[a]?^(M)

⁴³“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^(N) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[b]^(O)

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.^(P)

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