Ezekiel 33:1-33

(1)  The word of the LORD came to me:

(2)  "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman,

(3)  and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people,

(4)  then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

(5)  He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.

(6)  But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

(7)  "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

(8)  If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

(9)  But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

(10)  "And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: 'Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?'

(11)  Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

(12)  "And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins.

(13)  Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.

(14)  Again, though I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right,

(15)  if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

(16)  None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.

(17)  "Yet your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not just,' when it is their own way that is not just.

(18)  When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it.

(19)  And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by them.

(20)  Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways."

(21)  In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, "The city has been struck down."

(22)  Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

(23)  The word of the LORD came to me:

(24)  "Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, 'Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.'

(25)  Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land?

(26)  You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land?

(27)  Say this to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.

(28)  And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through.

(29)  Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

(30)  "As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, 'Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.'

(31)  And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.

(32)  And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

(33)  When this comes--and come it will!--then they will know that a prophet has been among them."

Matthew 20:1-34

(1)  "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

(2)  After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

(3)  And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

(4)  and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.'

(5)  So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.

(6)  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?'

(7)  They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

(8)  And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.'

(9)  And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.

(10)  Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

(11)  And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,

(12)  saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'

(13)  But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

(14)  Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

(15)  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'

(16)  So the last will be first, and the first last."

(17)  And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

(18)  "See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death

(19)  and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."

(20)  Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.

(21)  And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."

(22)  Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able."

(23)  He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

(24)  And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.

(25)  But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

(26)  It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

(27)  and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,

(28)  even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

(29)  And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him.

(30)  And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

(31)  The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

(32)  And stopping, Jesus called them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

(33)  They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened."

(34)  And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

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