Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
7 O LORD my God, in You I put my trust. Save me from all who persecute me, and deliver me,
2 lest he devour my soul like a lion, and tear it in pieces, while there is no one to help.
3 O LORD, my God, if I have done this thing, if there is any wickedness in my hands,
4 if I have rewarded evil to him who had peace with me (indeed, I have delivered him without cause),
5 let the enemies persecute my soul and take it. Indeed, let him tread my life down upon the Earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in Your wrath, and lift up Yourself against the rage of my enemies. Awaken me to the judgment You have appointed.
7 So shall the congregation of the people surround You. For their sakes, therefore, return on High.
8 The LORD shall judge the people. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to my innocence in me.
9 Oh, let the malice of the wicked come to an end. But guide the just. For the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.
10 My defense is in God, Who preserves the upright in heart.
11 God judges the righteous, and he who denounces God, every day.
12 Unless he turns, He has sharpened His sword. He has bent His bow and made it ready.
13 He has also prepared deadly weapons. He will ordain His arrows for those who persecute.
14 Behold, he shall work with wickedness, for he has conceived mischief. But he shall bring forth a lie.
15 He has made a pit, and dug it, and has fallen into the pit he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his cruelty shall fall upon his own head.
17 I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the Name of the LORD Most High. To him who excels on Gittith: A Psalm of David.
2 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what was decreed against her.
2 And the king’s servants who ministered to him, said, “Let them seek beautiful young virgins for the king.
3 “And let the king appoint officers through all the provinces of his kingdom. And let them gather all the beautiful young virgins to the palace of Shushan, into the house of the women, under the hand of Hegai (the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women), to give them their things for purification.
4 “And the maid who shall please the king, let her reign in the place of Vashti.” And this pleased the king; and he did so.
5 In the city of Shushan, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai (the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a man of Benjamin),
6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity that was carried away with Jeconiah, King of Judah (whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel had carried away).
7 And he nourished Hadassah (that is, Esther), his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. And the maid was fair and beautiful to look on. And after the death of her father and her mother, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
8 And when the king’s commandment and his decree were published, and many maids were brought together to the palace of Shushan under the hand of Hegai, Esther was also brought to the king’s house under the hand of Hegai, the keeper of the women.
9 And the maid pleased him; and she found favor in his sight. Therefore, he caused her things for purification to be given to her speedily, as well as her things and seven comely maids to be given to her out of the king’s house. And he gave her and her maids charge of the best in the house of the women.
10 But Esther did not reveal her people and her kindred. For Mordecai had told her that she should not tell it.
11 And Mordecai walked before the court of the women’s house every day, to find out if Esther did well, and what would become of her.
12 And after she had completed twelve months of the purification process (including six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors), every maid came, in turn, to go in to King Ahasuerus.
13 And thus went the maids to the king. Whatever she required was given to her (when she would go from the women’s house to the king’s house).
14 In the evening, she went. And the next day, she returned to the second house of the women, under the hand of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. If she did not please the king, was no longer called by name nor came in to the king.
15 Now, when the turn of Esther (the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter) came to go in to the king, she desired nothing but what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women said. And Esther found favor in the sight of all those who looked on her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his house royal, in the tenth month (which is the month Tebeth), in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women; and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the crown of the kingdom upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants (which was the “Feast of Esther”) and gave rest to the provinces, and gifts, according to the power of a king.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ - of the seed of David - was raised again from the dead according to my Gospel,
9 in which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds. But the Word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore, I suffer all things for the elect’s sake, so that they might also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal Glory.
11 This is a true saying: “For if we are dead together with Him, we also shall live together with Him.
12 “If we suffer, we shall also reign together with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
13 “If we do not believe, He still remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself.”
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