Book of Common Prayer
13 So did that good thing make me die? No. The wrong things I did made me die, because that good thing showed they were wrong. And the law shows that the wrong things are very, very bad.
14 We know that the law came from the Holy Spirit. But I am a weak man. I have been sold like a slave to do wrong things.
15 I do not know why I do the things I do. I do not do what I want to do. But I do the things I hate.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but my wrong ways in me.
18 I know that no good thing lives in me. I mean, no good thing lives in my body. I want to do what is good, but I cannot do it.
19 I do not do the good thing I want to do, but I do the wrong thing that I do not want to do.
20 If I do the thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the wrong thing in me that does it.
21 So there is a law I find that it is at work in me. When I want to do what is right, I can only do what is wrong.
22 In my own mind I am glad to obey the law of God.
23 But I see that in my body there is another law fighting against the law in my mind. And that makes me like a prisoner to the law of wrong things in my body.
24 I am a very sad man. Who will save me from this body that will make me die?
25 Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who will do it! So this is the way it is. In my mind I am a slave to do the law of God, but in my body I am a slave to do the law of wrong things.
33 `Listen to another story. A man planted a farm of vines for growing fruit called grapes. He put a fence of small trees around it. He dug a place to press the juice from the fruit. He built a high house from which men could watch over the farm. He let some men pay to use it. Then he went to a country far away.
34 `When it was near the time to cut the fruit, he sent his servants to those men. He wanted to have some of the fruit.
35 The men caught the servants. They beat one of them and killed another one of them. They threw stones at another one.
36 Then the man sent other servants. There were more than the first time. The men did the same to them.
37 `Last of all he sent his son to them. He said, "They will respect my son."
38 When the men saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the one who will have everything when his father dies. Let us kill him and we will have it all."
39 They caught him, dragged him off the farm, and killed him.
40 When the owner of the farm comes, what will he do to those men?'
41 They answered, `He will kill those bad men, and will give the farm to other men who will give him the fruit when it is time.'
42 Jesus said, `Have you never read in the holy writings "The stone which the builders would not use is now the chief corner stone. The Lord did this. It looks wonderful to us"?
43 `So I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you. It will be given to the people who do what they should do in it.
44 If anyone falls on this stone, he will be broken to pieces. But if this stone falls on anyone, it will crush him.'
45 The chief priests and the Pharisees heard the stories Jesus told, and they knew he was talking about them.
46 They wanted to catch him, but they feared the people. The people thought Jesus was a prophet.
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