Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
16 As for me, I will call on God and the Lord will save me. 17 I will cry out and complain in the evening and morning and noon, and He will hear my voice. 18 He will save my soul in peace from those who make war against me. For there are many who fight me. 19 God sits on His throne forever. And He will hear them and bring trouble upon them, because there has been no change in them. They do not fear God. 20 He goes against those who were at peace with him. He has broken his agreement. 21 What he says is smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are raised swords.
22 Give all your cares to the Lord and He will give you strength. He will never let those who are right with Him be shaken. 23 But You, O God, will bring the sinful down into the hole that destroys. Men who kill and lie will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
The King Honors Mordecai
6 During that night the king could not sleep. So he had the Book of the Chronicles brought to him, and they were read to the king. 2 And it was found written what Mordecai had told him about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s servants who were door-keepers, who had planned to kill King Ahasuerus. 3 The king said, “What honor or reward has been given to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who served him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 So the king said, “Who is outside?” Now Haman had just come into the garden outside the king’s special house. He wanted to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the tower he had made ready for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, “See, Haman is standing in the garden.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king wants to honor?” Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king want to honor more than me?” 7 Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king wants to honor, 8 let them bring clothing which the king wears, and the horse on which the king rides, and on whose head a crown has been placed. 9 Let the clothing and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most honored princes. Let them dress the man whom the king wants to honor and lead him on the horse through the center of the city. Have them make it known before him, ‘This is being done to the man whom the king wants to honor.’”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Be quick to take the clothing and the horse as you have said. Do this for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not do any less than all that you have said.” 11 So Haman took the clothing and the horse. He dressed Mordecai and led him on the horse through the center of the city. And he made known before him, “This is being done to the man whom the king wants to honor.” 12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman went home in a hurry with his head covered and very sad. 13 Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you cannot stand against him. For sure you will fall before him.” 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s servants came and brought Haman in a hurry to the special supper that Esther had made ready.
Haman Is Put to Death
7 So the king and Haman came to eat with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said again to Esther on the second day, as they drank their wine at the special supper, “What do you want to ask of me, Queen Esther? It will be done for you. What do you want? You would be given as much as half the nation.” 3 Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it please the king, I ask that my life and the lives of my people be saved. 4 For I and my people have been sold, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be done away with. If we had only been sold as men and women servants, I would have kept quiet. For our trouble is not to be compared with the trouble it will make for the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would do such a thing?” 6 Esther said, “This sinful Haman hates us very much!” Then Haman was very afraid in front of the king and queen.
30 What are we to say about these things? The people who are not Jews were not made right with God by the Law. They were made right with God because they put their trust in Him. 31 The Jews tried to be right with God by obeying the Law, but they did not become right with God. 32 Why? Because they did not put their trust in God. They tried to be right with God by working for it. They tripped over the most important Stone (Christ). 33 The Holy Writings say, “See! I put in Jerusalem a Stone that people will trip over. It is a Rock that will make them fall. But the person who puts his trust in the Rock (Christ) will not be put to shame.” (A)
10 Christian brothers, the desire of my heart and my prayer to God is that the Jews might be saved from the punishment of sin. 2 I know about them. They have a strong desire for God, but they do not know what they should about Him. 3 They have not known how God makes men right with Himself. Instead, they have tried to make their own way. They have not become right with God because they have not done what God said to do. 4 For Christ has put an end to the Law, so everyone who has put his trust in Christ is made right with God.
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