Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
16 I will call to God and the LORD will save me.
17 Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and make a noise; and He will hear my voice.
18 He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.
19 God shall hear and afflict them, even He Who reigns of old. Selah. Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God.
20 He laid his hand upon such who are at peace with Him. He broke His Covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were softer than butter; yet war was in his heart. His words were more gentle than oil; yet they were swords.
22 Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He shall nourish you. He will not allow the righteous to fall forever.
23 And You, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of corruption. The bloody and deceitful men shall not live half their days. But I will trust in You. To him who excels: A Psalm of David on Michtam, concerning the dumb dove in a far country, when the Philistines took him in Gath
5 And on the third day, Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the court of the king’s palace within, in front of the king’s rooms. And the king sat upon his royal throne, in the king’s palace, opposite the gate of the house.
2 And when the king saw Esther the Queen standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. And the king held out the golden scepter that was in his hand. So, Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter.
3 Then the king said to her, “What’s wrong, Queen Esther? And what is your request? It shall be given to you, even up to half of the kingdom.”
4 Then Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”
5 And the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that he may do as Esther has said.” So, the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
6 And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, so that it may be given to you? And what is your request? It shall be performed even up to half of the kingdom.”
7 Then Esther answered, “My petition, and my request is:
8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to give me my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them; and I will do as the king says tomorrow.”
9 Then, that same day, Haman went out joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and that he did not stand or move for him, then Haman was full of indignation at Mordecai.
10 Nevertheless, Haman controlled himself. And when he came home, he sent for his friends and Zeresh, his wife.
11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the promotions the king had given him, and how that he had set him above the princes and servants of the king.
12 Haman also said, “Even Esther the Queen let no man except me come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared. And tomorrow she has called us to her again.
13 But all this is unsatisfying as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
14 Then Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends said to him, “Let them make a hanging tree 75 feet high, and tomorrow ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then you shall go joyfully with the king to the banquet.” And that pleased Haman. So, he had the hanging tree made.
16 Therefore, let no one judge you as regards food and drink, or regarding a holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath,
17 which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.
18 Let no one, at his pleasure, bear rule over you by his humbleness of mind and his worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has never seen, being rashly puffed up with his fleshly mind
19 and not taking hold of the Head (from Whom all the body, supplied and knit together by joints and bonds, grows with a growth that is from God).
20 Therefore, if you have died with Christ from the principles of the world, why then (as though you lived in the world) do you submit to ordinances such as:
21 “Touch not! Taste not! Handle not!”,
22 which all perish with use and are according to the commandments and doctrines of man?
23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and of voluntary religion and humbleness of mind and of not sparing the body but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
3 If you, then, are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
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