Moses with the Ten Commandments, 1648, Philippe de Champaigne, oil on canvas at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are online here. The group disbanded but the readings below follow the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in Episcopal worship.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for October 4 - Nineteeth Sunday after Pentecost - Track 1: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Psalm 19 Track 2: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-14 for both: Philippians 3:4b-14 and Matthew 21:33-46. The text is from Bible Study Tools -- New International Version. The Psalms are from the most recent print version of The Book of Common Prayer - 2016.

Track 1

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

¹ And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” ²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

Psalm 19

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God, *
    and the firmament shows his handiwork.

² One day tells its tale to another, *
    and one night imparts knowledge to another.

³ Although they have no words or language, *
    and their voices are not heard,

⁴ Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
    and their message to the ends of the world.

⁵ In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *
    it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;
    it rejoices like a champion to run its course.

⁶ It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens
    and runs about to the end of it again; *
    nothing is hidden from its burning heat.

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect
    and revives the soul; *
    the testimony of the LORD is sure
    and gives wisdom to the innocent.

⁸ The statutes of the LORD are just
    and rejoice the heart; *
    the commandment of the LORD is clear
    and gives light to the eyes.

⁹ The fear of the LORD is clean
    and endures for ever; *
    the judgments of the LORD are true
    and righteous altogether.

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
    more than much fine gold, *
    sweeter far than honey,
    than honey in the comb.

¹¹ By them also is your servant enlightened, *
    and in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² Who can tell how often he offends? *
    cleanse me from my secret faults.

¹³ Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
    let them not get dominion over me; *
    then shall I be whole and sound,
    and innocent of a great offense.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
    heart be acceptable in your sight, *
    O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.

Track 2

Isaiah 5:1-7

¹ I will sing for the one I love
     a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard
     on a fertile hillside.

² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
     and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it
     and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
     but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem
     and people of Judah,

judge between me
     and my vineyard.

⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
     than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,
     why did it yield only bad?

⁵ Now I will tell you
     what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,
     and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,
     and it will be trampled.

⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
     neither pruned nor cultivated,
     and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds
     not to rain on it.”

⁷ The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
     is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah
     are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice,
     but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness,
     but heard cries of distress.

Psalm 80:7-14

⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts; *
    show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

⁸ You have brought a vine out of Egypt; *
    you cast out the nations and planted it.

⁹ You prepared the ground for it; *
    it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰ The mountains were covered by its shadow *
    and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.

¹¹ You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea *
    and its branches to the River.

¹² Why have you broken down its wall, *
    so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?

¹³ The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, *
    and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.

¹⁴ Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;
    behold and tend this vine; *
    preserve what your right hand has planted.

for both

Philippians 3:4b-14

^4b If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said, ³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. ³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. ³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

    “ ‘The stone the builders rejected
         has become the cornerstone;
     the Lord has done this,
         and it is marvelous in our eyes’ ?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools and the Online Book of Common Prayer for the text.