¹ The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

² Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

³ For out of the north there cometh a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in it, they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

⁴ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces towards it, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

⁶ My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.

⁷ All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

⁸ Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.

⁹ For lo, I will raise and cause to come against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

¹⁰ And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

¹¹ Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

¹² Your mother shall be greatly confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

¹³ Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

¹⁴ Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵ Shout against her on every side; she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do to her.

¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

¹⁷ Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

²⁰ In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

²² A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.

²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

²⁴ I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.

²⁵ The LORD hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of The LORD GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ Come against her from the utmost border, open her store-houses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

²⁷ Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

²⁸ The voice of them that flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

²⁹ Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, encamp against it on every side; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do to her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰ Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

³¹ Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

³² And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all around him.

³³ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

³⁵ A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

³⁶ A sword is upon the liars; and they shall be sottish: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

³⁷ A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.

³⁸ A drouth is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

³⁹ Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the isles, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

⁴¹ Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the borders of the earth.

⁴² They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³ The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands became feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.

⁴⁴ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

⁴⁵ Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.

⁴⁶ At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

¹ "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

² When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³ He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

⁴ To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way.

⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.

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

⁷ "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.'

⁸ When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'

⁹ "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.

¹⁰ When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.

¹¹ When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,

¹² saying, 'These last have spent 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 answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius?

¹⁴ Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.

¹⁵ Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'

¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."

¹⁷ As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

¹⁸ "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,

¹⁹ and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up."

²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.

²¹ He said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom."

²² But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We are able."

²³ He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

²⁴ When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.

²⁵ But Jesus summoned them, and said, "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

²⁶ It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

²⁷ Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

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 As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

³⁰ Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!"

³¹ The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, "Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!"

³² Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"

³³ They told him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."

³⁴ Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.