Book of Common Prayer

¹² In the morning, some of the Jewish leaders planned together. They made a promise that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³ There were more than forty Jews who made this secret plan together.

¹⁴ They came to the chief priests and leaders and said, `We have made a promise for ourselves. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵ So now, you and the members of the court send word to the commanding officer. Tell him to bring Paul down to you. Make him think you want to find out more about Paul. We will be ready to kill him before he gets there.'

¹⁶ The son of Paul's sister heard about their secret plan. So he went into the army house and told Paul.

¹⁷ Paul called one of the officers and said to him, `Take this young man to the commanding officer. He has something to tell him!'

¹⁸ So the officer took him to the commanding officer. He said, `Paul, the prisoner, called me. He asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.'

¹⁹ The officer took the young man by the arm. He went to one side so they could be alone. He asked, `What do you want to tell me?'

²⁰ The young man said, `The leaders of the Jews have made a plan. They will ask you to bring Paul down to court tomorrow. They will say that they wish to find out more about him.

²¹ But you must not do this. More than forty Jews are waiting for him. They have made a promise to themselves. They will not eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now and waiting for your agreement.'

²² So the commanding officer sent the young man away. He said, `You must not tell anyone that you have told me about these things.'

²³ The commanding officer called two officers to him. He said, `Get two hundred soldiers ready by nine o'clock tonight to go to Caesarea. Send seventy men with them who will ride on horses and two hundred men who will carry spears.

²⁴ Also have horses ready for Paul to ride. Take him safely to Felix, the ruler.'

²⁷ They came to Jerusalem again. Jesus walked in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders came to him.

²⁸ They said, `What right have you to do these things? Who gave you the right to do them?'

²⁹ Jesus said, `I will ask you a question. If you answer me, I will answer you and tell you what right I have to do these things.

³⁰ Who gave John the right to baptise people? Did God or did men? Answer me!'

³¹ So they talked it over together. They said, `If we say, "God gave John the right," he will say, "Then why did you not believe him?"

³² But what if we say, "Men gave him the right to do it"?' They feared the people because they all believed that John was a prophet of God.

³³ So they answered Jesus, `We do not know.' Then Jesus said, `Neither will I tell you what right I have to do these things.'

12 Jesus then began to speak to the disciples in stories. `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. Then he let some men pay to use it and went to a country far away.

² At harvest time the owner sent one his servants to get some of the fruit from the farm.

³ The men took the servant and beat him. They sent him away without any fruit.

⁴ He sent another servant. They hurt this one also, and cut his head. The things they did to him were very wrong.

⁵ So he sent another servant. The men killed him. He sent many others, and the men beat some and killed others.

⁶ There was one left. He was his own son. He sent him last. He said, "They will respect my son."

⁷ But the men said to each other, "This is the one who will have everything when his father dies. Let us kill him. Then everything will belong to us."

⁸ They killed him and threw his body outside the farm.

⁹ `What will the man who owned the farm do to them? He will come back and kill the men in the farm. And he will give the farm to other men to use.

^10-11 ave you not read this writing: "The stone which the builders would not use is now the chief stone of the corner. The Lord did this. It looks wonderful to us."?'

¹² They tried to catch Jesus but they feared the people. They knew that Jesus had spoken this against them. So they left him and went away.