Reading
Numbers 24: 2-7, 15-17
24:2 and lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel dwelling in tents by their tribes. And with the Spirit of God rushing into him,
24:3 taking up his parable, he said: “Balaam, the son of Beor, the man whose eye has been obstructed,
24:4 the hearer of the sermon of God, he who has gazed upon a vision of the Almighty, he who falls down and so his eyes are opened, has declared:
24:5 ‘How beautiful are your tabernacles, O Jacob, and your tents, O Israel!
24:6 They are like forested valleys, like gardens irrigated next to rivers, like tabernacles which the Lord has fixed, like cedars close to waters.
24:7 Water shall flow from his jar, and his offspring shall be amid many waters, because Agag, his king, shall be taken, and his kingdom shall be removed.
24:15 Therefore, taking up his parable, he again spoke: “Balaam the son of Beor, the man whose eye has been obstructed,
24:16 the hearer of the sermon of God, he who knows the doctrine of the Most High, and who sees the visions of the Almighty, who, falling down, has his eyes opened, has declared:
24:17 I shall see him, but not presently. I shall gaze upon him, but not soon. A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a rod shall spring up from Israel. And he shall strike down the commanders of Moab, and he shall devastate all the sons of Seth.
Gospel
Matthew 21: 23-27
21:23 And when he had arrived at the temple, as he was teaching, the leaders of the priests and the elders of the people approached him, saying: “By what authority do you do these things? And who has given this authority to you?”
21:24 In response, Jesus said to them: “I also will question you with one word: if you tell me this, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
21:25 The baptism of John, where was it from? Was it from heaven, or from men?” But they thought within themselves, saying:
21:26 “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we have the crowd to fear, for they all hold John to be a prophet.”
21:27 And so, they answered Jesus by saying, “We do not know.” So he also said to them: “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.