Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
16 But I will call upon the Lord to save me—and he will. 17 I will pray morning, noon, and night, pleading aloud with God; and he will hear and answer. 18 Though the tide of battle runs strongly against me, for so many are fighting me, yet he will rescue me. 19 God himself—God from everlasting ages past—will answer them! For they refuse to fear him or even honor his commands.
20 This friend of mine betrayed me—I who was at peace with him. He broke his promises. 21 His words were oily smooth, but in his heart was war. His words were sweet, but underneath were daggers.
22 Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall. 23 He will send my enemies to the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will not live out half their days. But I am trusting you to save me.
6 1-2 That night the king had trouble sleeping and decided to read awhile. He ordered the historical records of his kingdom from the library, and in them he came across the item telling how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, watchmen at the palace gates, who had plotted to assassinate him.
3 “What reward did we ever give Mordecai for this?” the king asked.
His courtiers replied, “Nothing!”
4 “Who is on duty in the outer court?” the king inquired. Now, as it happened, Haman had just arrived in the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai from the gallows he was building.
5 So the courtiers replied to the king, “Haman is out there.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered. 6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?”
Haman thought to himself, “Whom would he want to honor more than me?” 7-8 So he replied, “Bring out some of the royal robes the king himself has worn, and the king’s own horse, and the royal crown, 9 and instruct one of the king’s most noble princes to robe the man and to lead him through the streets on the king’s own horse, shouting before him, ‘This is the way the king honors those who truly please him!’”
10 “Excellent!” the king said to Haman. “Hurry and take these robes and my horse, and do just as you have said—to Mordecai the Jew, who works at the Chancellery. Follow every detail you have suggested.”
11 So Haman took the robes and put them on Mordecai, and mounted him on the king’s own steed, and led him through the streets of the city, shouting, “This is the way the king honors those he delights in.”
12 Afterwards Mordecai returned to his job, but Haman hurried home utterly humiliated. 13 When Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends what had happened, they said, “If Mordecai is a Jew, you will never succeed in your plans against him; to continue to oppose him will be fatal.”
14 While they were still discussing it with him, the king’s messengers arrived to conduct Haman quickly to the banquet Esther had prepared.
7 So the king and Haman came to Esther’s banquet. 2 Again, during the wine course, the king asked her, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? What do you wish? Whatever it is, I will give it to you, even if it is half of my kingdom!”
3 And at last Queen Esther replied, “If I have won your favor, O King, and if it please Your Majesty, save my life and the lives of my people. 4 For I and my people have been sold to those who will destroy us. We are doomed to destruction and slaughter. If we were only to be sold as slaves, perhaps I could remain quiet, though even then there would be incalculable damage to the king that no amount of money could begin to cover.”
5 “What are you talking about?” King Ahasuerus demanded. “Who would dare touch you?”
6 Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our enemy.”
Then Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.
30 Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this, that God has given the Gentiles the opportunity to be acquitted by faith, even though they had not been really seeking God. 31 But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping his laws, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They have stumbled over the great stumbling stone. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I have put a Rock in the path of the Jews, and many will stumble over him (Jesus). Those who believe in him will never be disappointed.”[a]
10 Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved. 2 I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation. 4 They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.