Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Thanksgiving to God
138 Lord,[a] I thank[b] you with all of my heart;
because you heard the words that I spoke,[c]
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.[d]
2 I will bow down in worship toward your holy Temple
and give thanks to your name for your gracious love and truth,
for you have done great things
to carry out your word
consistent with your name.
3 When[e] I called out, you answered me;
you strengthened me.
4 Lord, all the kings of the earth will give you thanks,
for they have heard what you have spoken.[f]
5 They will sing about the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord!
6 Though the Lord is highly exalted,
yet he pays attention to those who are lowly regarded,
but he is aware of the arrogant from afar.
7 Though I walk straight into trouble,
you preserve my life,
stretching out your hand
to fight the vehemence of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will complete what his purpose is for me.
Lord, your gracious love is eternal;
do not abandon your personal work in me.[g]
Mordecai Thwarts a Plot to Kill Ahasuerus
19 When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate. 20 Now Esther had not declared her heritage[a] or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her, for Esther did what Mordecai told her just as she had done when she was raised by him. 21 At that time when Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs among those who guarded the threshold,[b] became angry and conspired to assassinate[c] King Ahasuerus. 22 When Mordecai learned about the plot, he told Queen Esther, and she told the king in Mordecai’s name. 23 After the matter had been fully investigated, Bigthan and Teresh[d] were hanged[e] on a pole, and this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
Haman is Promoted by Ahasuerus
3 Sometime later King Ahasuerus promoted Hammedatha the Agagite’s son Haman, elevating him to a position above[f] all the other officials who were with him. 2 All the king’s ministers[g] who were in the king’s gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, because the king had commanded that Haman[h] be honored in this way. Mordecai, however, would not kneel and would not bow down.
3 The king’s ministers[i] who were in the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 They asked him this day after day, and he would not listen to them, so they told Haman to see whether or not Mordecai would get away with his disobedience,[j] since he also had told them that he was Jewish. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel and bow down to him, he[k] flew into a rage. 6 Because they had told him who the people of Mordecai were, Haman[l] found it unacceptable[m] to kill[n] only Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jewish people, who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
15 At that time,[a] Peter got up among the brothers (there were about 120 people present) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the voice of David about Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus, 17 because he was one of our number and was appointed[b] to share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, “The Field of Blood”.) 20 “For in the Book of Psalms it is written, ‘Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,’[c] and, ‘Let someone else take over his office,’[d]
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