Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

David wrote this song.

Thank God for who he is

Haman decides to kill all the Jews

⁷ Haman asked his advisors when would be the right time to make this happen. He asked them in the first month of the year (Nisan), during Xerxes' 12th year as king. Haman's advisors threw dice to decide the right time to destroy the Jews. The dice chose the 12th month of the year (Adar). The dice were called ‘Purim’.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a group of people who live in many regions of your kingdom. They have different customs to all the other people. They refuse to obey the laws of your kingdom. It is not good for you to let them live among all the other people in your kingdom. ⁹ If you agree, we should send out a command to destroy them. Then I will give 350 tons of silver to the king, so that your officers can do this work.’^[a]

¹⁰ The king took his special ring from his finger and he gave it to Hammedatha's son, Haman, the Jews' great enemy.^{[b] 11} He said to Haman, ‘Keep your money. You should do anything that you want with these people.’

¹² On the 13th day of the first month, Haman asked the king's secretaries to come to him. They wrote Haman's commands in letters to the king's rulers and officers in every region. They wrote the letters in the languages that people spoke in the different regions. Haman used the authority of King Xerxes and he marked the letters with the king's special ring.^[c]

¹³ Men delivered the letters to all the regions of the kingdom. Haman's command said that on the 13th day of the 12th month (Adar) people should completely destroy and kill all the Jews. They should kill old people and young people, women and children. Then they should take all the Jews' valuable things for themselves. ¹⁴ Haman sent copies of his command to every region, so that it would be read aloud to the people. Everyone would know what the law said, and everyone would be ready on the right day.

¹⁵ King Xerxes told his men to take the letters quickly to all the people. They also read the law to the people in Susa city. Then Haman and the king sat down to drink wine together. But the people in the city were very upset.

²² Peter then said, ‘People of Israel, listen to what I am saying! Jesus, the man from Nazareth, came with God's authority to do his work. God did many powerful and special things through him. These miracles showed you clearly that God had sent him. You know about all this. These things happened here, and you saw them. ²³ God knew that Jesus' enemies would give him to you. God had decided that this should happen. You let people who do not obey God's Law fix him to the cross. In that way you killed him. ²⁴ But after his death, God caused him to become alive again. God saved Jesus from the power of death. It was impossible for death to keep hold of him. ²⁵ A long time ago, King David spoke about the Messiah in this way:

²⁹ Peter then said, ‘Friends, people of Israel, I must speak clearly to you about our ancestor, King David. He died and people buried his body in the ground. You can still see the place where people buried him. ³⁰ He was a prophet. He knew what God had promised to do for him. He knew that one of his descendants would be king of God's people one day. ³¹ David understood what God would do in a future time. He did not speak about himself, but he spoke about the Messiah. He said that God would cause this man to become alive again after his death. God would not let him remain in Hades, the place for dead people. Nothing would destroy his body. ³² This man that David talked about is Jesus. After his death, God caused him to become alive again. We ourselves saw this happen. All of us saw it. ³³ God took Jesus back up to heaven. He caused Jesus to sit at his right side, the place of great honour. Jesus received the Holy Spirit from his Father God, so that he could give the Spirit to us. This is what God had promised to do. God has poured his Holy Spirit on us. Now you are seeing and hearing the result of this. ³⁴ King David himself did not go up into heaven like Jesus did. But David said:

³⁶ So all you people of Israel must be sure to know this: It is this same Jesus that God has chosen to be the Messiah. God has made him to be our Lord. But you fixed him to a cross and you killed him.’