September 20, 2026

6Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. 7Let the wicked forsake their way, and sinners their thoughts; Let them turn to the LORD to find mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

2Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever and ever. 3Great is the LORD and worthy of much praise, whose grandeur is beyond understanding. 8The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. 9The LORD is good to all, compassionate toward all your works. 17The LORD is just in all his ways, merciful in all his works. 18The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

20My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. 22If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. 23I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, [for] that is far better. 24Yet that I remain [in] the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. 27Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear news of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind struggling together for the faith of the gospel,

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1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ 9When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 10So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. 11And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ 13He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 15[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ 16Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” The Third Prediction of the Passion.