Day 405 of 730

¹Jesus answered and spoke again in parables to them, saying,

²"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son,

³and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come.

⁴Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!"'

⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise,

⁶and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

⁸"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren't worthy.

⁹Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.'

¹⁰Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.

¹¹But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who did not have on wedding clothing,

¹²and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?' He was speechless.

¹³Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.'

¹⁴For many are called, but few chosen."

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.

¹⁶They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you are not partial to anyone.

¹⁷Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

¹⁸But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹Show me the tax money." They brought to him a denarius.

²⁰He asked them, "Whose is this image and inscription?"

²¹They said to him, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

²²When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away.

²³On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him,

²⁴saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother.'

²⁵Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no seed left his wife to his brother.

²⁶In like manner the second also, and the third, to the seventh.

²⁷After them all, the woman died.

²⁸In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her."

²⁹But Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.

³¹But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have not you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,

³²'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

³³When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.

³⁵One of them, a Law scholar, asked him a question, testing him.

³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

³⁷He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

³⁸This is the great and first commandment.

³⁹A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

⁴⁰The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,

⁴²saying, "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "Of David."

⁴³He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴'The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'?

⁴⁵"If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?"

⁴⁶No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forth.

¹Give thanks to the Lord! Call on his name! Make his doings known among the peoples.

²Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his marvelous works.

³Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

⁴Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face forever more.

⁵Remember his marvelous works that he has done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,

⁶you seed of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷He is the Lord, our God. His judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,

⁹the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac,

¹⁰and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

¹¹saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;"

¹²when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it.

¹³They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.

¹⁴He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,

¹⁵"Do not touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!"

¹⁶He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.

¹⁷He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave.

¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles. His neck was locked in irons,

¹⁹until the time that his word happened, and the Lord's word proved him true.

²⁰The king sent and freed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free.

²¹He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions;

²²to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.

²³Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

²⁴He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries.

²⁵He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness, and made it dark. They did not rebel against his words.

²⁹He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish.

³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.

³¹He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders.

³²He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land.

³³He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers, without number,

³⁵ate up every plant in their land; and ate up the fruit of their ground.

³⁶He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood.

³⁷He brought them forth with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.

⁴⁰They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.

⁴¹He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.

⁴²For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.

⁴³He brought forth his people with joy, his chosen with singing.

⁴⁴He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession,

⁴⁵that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.