³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”^(A)

²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden^(A) to work the ground^(B) from which he had been taken.

² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.^(A)

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.^{(B) 3} In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering^(C) to the Lord.^{(D) 4} And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions^(E) from some of the firstborn of his flock.^(F) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,^{(G) 5} but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?^(H) Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;^(I) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.^(J)”

⁷ Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away^(A) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return^(B) to me, and I will return to you,”^(C) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,^(D) ‘How are we to return?’

⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob^(E) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes^(F) and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse^(G)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(H) into the storehouse,^(I) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(J) of heaven and pour out^(K) so much blessing^(L) that there will not be room enough to store it.^(M)

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

The Need for Self-Discipline

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?^(A) Run^(B) in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown^(C) that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.^{(D) 26} Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly;^(E) I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.^{(F) 27} No, I strike a blow to my body^(G) and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.^(H)

Warnings From Israel’s History

10 For I do not want you to be ignorant^(I) of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud^(J) and that they all passed through the sea.^{(K) 2} They were all baptized into^(L) Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food^{(M) 4} and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock^(N) that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for^(A) and assurance about what we do not see.^(B)

⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended^(A) as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.^(B) And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.^(C)

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^{(B) 2} He agreed to pay them a denarius^[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came,^(C) the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble^(D) against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat^(E) of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^(F) Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^(G)

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(H)