Thursday, December 14, 2034

^7:1For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ²to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, ³without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. ⁴Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder.

⁵They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, ⁶but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises.

^9:10They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant. ¹¹They asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹²He said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised? ¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.” ¹⁴Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them. ¹⁵Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him. ¹⁶He asked the scribes, “What are you asking them?”

^7:1For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ²to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, ³without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually. ⁴Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder.

⁵They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, ⁶but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises.

^20:9He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. ¹⁰At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty. ¹¹He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. ¹²He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him and threw him out.

¹³The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’ ¹⁴“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵Then they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.” When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

¹⁷But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the chief cornerstone’? ¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”