Book of Common Prayer

11 So I ask, has God left his people? No, he has not! I myself am a Jew. I was born in Abraham's family. I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.

² God has not left his people whom he knew from the first. Do you not know what the holy writings say about the prophet Elijah? He talked to God against the people of Israel.

³ He said, `Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have pulled down your holy places. I am the only one that is left, and they are trying to kill me.'

⁴ But what did God answer him? He said, `I have seven thousand men who have not kneeled down to the idol god Baal.'

⁵ So now some are left because God was kind to them, and chose them.

⁶ But if it was a gift because he was kind to them, then it was no longer because of the things they did. Or else a gift would no longer be a gift.

⁷ So what does that mean? The Jews did not get what they tried to get. Only the people God chose got it. The hearts of the rest of the people became hard.

⁸ The holy writings say, `God made them dull with sleep. He gave them eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear. They have been like that until today.'

⁹ And David said long ago, `May the table where they eat be like a net and like a trap. May it make them fall down. May it punish them.

¹⁰ Make their eyes become blind so that they cannot see. Make their backs bent all the time.'

¹¹ So I ask, `Have their feet been caught so that they have really fallen down?' No. But because they began to fall, the people who are not Jews were told how to be saved. That would make the Jews jealous.

¹² The people who are not Jews have been richly blessed because the Jews failed. So it will be even better for them when the Jews no longer fail God.

25 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet a man who was being married.

² Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise.

³ The five foolish women took their lamps but took no oil with them.

⁴ The wise ones took bottles of oil with their lamps.

⁵ `It was a long time before the man came, so they all went to sleep.

⁶ At midnight there was a call, "Here comes the man who is to be married! Come out to meet him."

⁷ Then all the young women woke up. They cleaned their lamps.

⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Give us some of your oil. The light in our lamps is dying."

⁹ But the wise ones answered, "There may not be enough oil for us all. Go to the market and buy some for yourselves."

¹⁰ `While they went away to buy oil, the man came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. Then the door was shut.

¹¹ After that, the other women also came. They called, "Sir, sir, open the door for us."

¹² But he said, "I tell you the truth. I do not know you."

¹³ So watch! You do not know the day or the hour.'