Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Adonai Magen
Psalm 7
1 A passionate song of David, which he sang to Adonai concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
2 Adonai my God, in You I have taken refuge.
Save me from each of my persecutors, and deliver me.
3 Otherwise he will rip me apart like a lion,
with no one to rescue me.
4 Adonai my God, if I have done this—
if there is guilt on my hands,
5 if I have paid back evil to anyone at peace with me,
or unjustly attacked my adversary,
6 then let the enemy chase me,
overtake me, and trample me into the ground,
leaving my honor in the dirt! Selah
7 Arise, Adonai, in Your anger,
arise against the fury of my enemies!
Awake for me!
You decreed justice.
8 Let an assembly of peoples gather around You
and return on high, above them.
9 Adonai judges the peoples.
Vindicate me, Adonai,
according to my righteousness and integrity in me.
10 Please, end the evil of the wicked
and sustain the righteous.
A just God examines hearts and minds.
11 My shield is God—
Savior of the upright in heart.
12 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is indignant every day.
13 If He does not relent,
He will sharpen His sword.
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
14 He prepares His own deadly weapons.
He makes His fiery arrows.
15 Look! The one pregnant with trouble conceives mischief
and brings forth deceit.[a]
16 He digs a pit, scrapes it out,
and then falls into the hole he has made.
17 His mischief will turn on his own head.
His violence will boomerang on his crown.
18 I will praise Adonai for His justice.
I sing praise to the Name of Adonai Elyon!
Esther Wins Favor
2 After these things when King Ahasuerus’ anger subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let a search be made on the king’s behalf for beautiful young virgins. 3 Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the palace at Shushan in the house of women under the supervision of Hegai the king’s eunuch, who oversees the women. Let them be given beauty treatments. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen instead of Vashti.”
This advice pleased the king and he acted accordingly.
5 There was a Jewish man in the Shushan palace whose name was Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives that had been carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken away. 7 He had raised Hadassah—that is Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The girl was attractive and had a beautiful figure. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her to him as his own daughter.
8 After the king’s order and decree became known, many young women were assembled in the palace of Shushan under the supervision of Hegai. Esther also was taken into the king’s household under the supervision of Hegai, guardian of the women. 9 This young woman pleased him and found favor with him. He quickly arranged her beauty treatments and provided her special food. He also provided her with seven specially chosen young women from the king’s household. Then he moved her and her maids to the best place in the women’s house.
10 Esther had not disclosed her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had commanded her not to make them known. 11 Every day Mordecai walked in front of the women’s courtyard to find out how Esther was, and what might happen to her.
12 When each young woman’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of 12 months as prescribed for the women—for in this way they fulfilled their beautification: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics— 13 the young woman would go to the king in this way: whatever she asked for was given to her to take with her from the women’s house to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go, and in the morning she would return to the second women’s home under the supervision of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, guardian of the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king was pleased with her, and summoned her by name.
15 When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the guardian of the women, advised. And Esther won favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 Then Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus at his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 Now the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and servants. He proclaimed a holiday for the provinces and distributed gifts in keeping with the king’s wealth.
8 Remember Yeshua the Messiah, raised from the dead, from the seed of David—according to my Good News. 9 For this I suffer hardship as a criminal, even to the point of chains—though the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the chosen, so they might obtain the salvation that is in Messiah Yeshua with eternal glory.
11 Trustworthy is the saying:
If we died with Him,
we will also live with Him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with Him;
if we deny Him, He will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, He remains faithful,
for He cannot deny Himself.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.