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Psalm 115

1  Not to us, Lord, not to us,
      but to your name give the glory, ♦︎
   for the sake of your loving mercy and truth.
2  Why should the nations say, ♦︎
   ‘Where is now their God?’
3  As for our God, he is in heaven; ♦︎
   he does whatever he pleases.
4  Their idols are silver and gold, ♦︎
   the work of human hands.
5  They have mouths, but cannot speak; ♦︎
   eyes have they, but cannot see;
6  They have ears, but cannot hear; ♦︎
   noses have they, but cannot smell;
7  They have hands, but cannot feel;
      feet have they, but cannot walk; ♦︎
   not a whisper do they make from their throats.
8  Those who make them shall become like them ♦︎
   and so will all who put their trust in them.
9  But you, Israel, put your trust in the Lord; ♦︎
   he is their help and their shield.
10  House of Aaron, trust in the Lord; ♦︎
   he is their help and their shield.
11  You that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; ♦︎
   he is their help and their shield.
12  The Lord has been mindful of us and he will bless us; ♦︎
   may he bless the house of Israel;
      may he bless the house of Aaron;
13  May he bless those who fear the Lord, ♦︎
   both small and great together.
14  May the Lord increase you more and more, ♦︎
   you and your children after you.
15  May you be blest by the Lord, ♦︎
   the maker of heaven and earth.
16  The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, ♦︎
   but the earth he has entrusted to his children.
17  The dead do not praise the Lord, ♦︎
   nor those gone down into silence;
18  But we will bless the Lord, ♦︎
   from this time forth for evermore.
      Alleluia.

27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, ‘Thus the Lord has said, “I revealed^* myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves^* to the house of Pharaoh. ²⁸I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹Why then look with greedy eye^* at my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honour your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?” ³⁰Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: “I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me for ever”; but now the Lord declares: “Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. ³¹See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family, so that no one in your family will live to old age. ³²Then in distress you will look with greedy eye^* on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed upon Israel; and no one in your family shall ever live to old age. ³³The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his^* eyes and grieve his^* heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.^{* 34}The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you—both of them shall die on the same day. ³⁵I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one for ever. ³⁶Everyone who is left in your family shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and shall say, Please put me in one of the priest’s places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

9 He began to tell the people this parable: ‘A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. ¹⁰When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. ¹²And he sent yet a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. ¹³Then the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” ¹⁴But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, “This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.” ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.’ When they heard this, they said, ‘Heaven forbid!’ ¹⁷But he looked at them and said, ‘What then does this text mean:
“The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone”?^*
18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ ¹⁹When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.