Psalm 126

A Harvest of Joy

A Song of Ascents.

⁷ Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.^{(A) 8} More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ^{(B) 9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ,^[a] the righteousness from God based on faith.^{(C) 10} I want to know Christ^[b] and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.^(D)

Pressing toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal,^[c] but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ^[d] has laid hold of me.^{(E) 13} Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold^[e] of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,^{(F) 14} I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly^[f] call of God in Christ Jesus.^{(G) 15} Let those of us, then, who are mature^[g] think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you.^{(H) 16} Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.^(I)

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

⁹ He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants and went away for a long time.^{(A) 10} When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard, but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. ¹² And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!”^{(B) 17} But he looked at them and said, “What then does this text mean:

¹⁸ “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”^{(D) 19} When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.^(E)