One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 127
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MATTHEW 20:128
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the
landowner who went out early one
morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal
daily wage* and sent them out to work.
3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he
was passing through the marketplace
and saw some people standing around
doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever
was right at the end of the day. 5 So
they went to work in the vineyard. At
noon and again at three o’clock he did
the same thing.
6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he
was in town again and saw some more
people standing around. He asked
them, ‘Why h
aven’t you been working
today?’
7 “They replied, ‘Because no one
hired us.’
“The landowner told them, ‘Then
go out and join the others in my
vineyard.’
8 “That evening he told the foreman
to call the workers in and pay them,
beginning with the last workers first.
9 When those hired at five o’clock were
paid, each received a full day’s wage.
10 When those hired first came to get
their pay, they assumed they would
receive more. But they, too, were paid
a day’s wage. 11 When they received
their pay, they protested to the owner,
12 ‘Those people worked only one
hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as
much as you paid us who worked all
day in the scorching heat.’
13 “He answered one of them,
‘Friend, I h
aven’t been unfair! Didn’t
you agree to work all day for the usual
wage? 14 Take your money and go. I
wanted to pay this last worker the
same as you. 15 Is it against the law for
me to do what I want with my money?
Should you be jealous because I am
kind to others?’
16 “So those who are last now will be
first then, and those who are first will
be last.”
17 As J
esus was going up to Jeru
salem, he took the twelve disciples
aside privately and told them what
January 30
was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Je
rusalem, where the Son of Man* will
be betrayed to the leading priests and
the teachers of religious law. They will
sentence him to die. 19 Then they will
hand him over to the Romans* to be
mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be
raised from the dead.”
20 Then the mother of James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, came to
Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked.
She replied, “In your Kingdom,
please let my two sons sit in places of
honor next to you, one on your right
and the other on your left.”
22 But Jesus answered by saying to
them, “You don’t know what you are
asking! Are you able to drink from the
bitter cup of suffering I am about to
drink?”
“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed
drink from my bitter cup. But I have no
right to say who will sit on my right or
my left. My Father has prepared those
places for the ones he has chosen.”
24 When the ten other disciples
heard what James and John had asked,
they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called
them together and said, “You know
that the rulers in this world lord it over
their people, and officials flaunt their
authority over those under them. 26 But
among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you
must be your servant, 27 and whoever
wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve
others and to give his life as a ransom
for many.”
20:2 Greek a denarius, the payment for a full day’s
labor; similarly in 20:9, 10, 13. 20:18 “Son of Man”
is a title Jesus used for himself. 20:19 Greek the
Gentiles.
PSALM 25:115*
A psalm of David.
1
2
O Lord, I give my life to you.
I trust in you, my God!
