Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
A Shiggaion[a] of David which he sang to Yahweh
on account of Cush, a Benjaminite.[b]
7 O Yahweh, my God, in you I have taken refuge.
Save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me.
2 Or else he will tear me apart like a lion,
ripping to pieces, with none to deliver.
3 O Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my ally[c] with harm,
or if I have plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy of my soul pursue,
and overtake and trample my life into the ground,
and lay my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Rise up, O Yahweh, in your anger,
and lift yourself up against the wrath[d] of my oppressors,
and awake for me,
since you have commanded judgment.
7 And let the assembly of peoples surround you,
and over it return on high.
8 Yahweh judges the nations.
O Yahweh, vindicate me
according to my innocence[e] and according to my integrity within me.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
and test the hearts and innermost being, O righteous God.
10 My shield is with God
who saves the upright of heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.
12 If he[f] does not repent, he[g] will sharpen his sword.
He has bent his bow and he has strung[h] it.
13 And he has prepared for him weapons of death.
He has made his arrows fiery shafts.
14 See, he[i] travails with[j] evil.
He is pregnant with trouble,
and he gives birth to deception.
15 He makes a pit and digs it out,
then falls in the trap he has made.
16 His trouble comes back on his head,
and his violence comes down on his skull.
17 I will thank Yahweh according to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of Yahweh, the Most High.
3 And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite’s evil plan and the plot that he devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther rose and stood before the king, 5 and she said, “If it is good to the king, and if I have found favor before him,[a] and if the king is pleased with this matter, and I have his approval,[b] let an edict be written to revoke the letters of the plans of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I bear[c] to look on the disaster that will find my people, and how can I bear[d] to look on the destruction of my family?” 7 And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he plotted against[e] the Jews. 8 Write as you see fit[f] concerning the Jews in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be revoked.”
9 And the secretaries of the king were summoned[g] at that time, in the third month, which is in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush[h]—one hundred and twenty-seven provinces[i]—each province according to its own script and to every people in their own language,[j] and to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king’s signet ring and sent them[k] by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses bred by[l] racing mares.[m] 11 In them the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives,[n] to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil, 12 in one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the edict[o] was to be given as law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready[p] on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies. 14 The mounted couriers on the royal horses went out without delay, urged by the king’s word. The law was given in the citadel of Susa.
15 Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing[q] of blue cloth and white linen, and a great crown of gold and a robe of fine white linen and purple, and the city of Susa was shouting and rejoicing. 16 For the Jews, there was light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 In every province and city, wherever the king’s edict and his law came, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a holiday,[r] and many of the people from the country were posing as Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
Rejoicing in Heaven
19 After these things I heard something like the loud sound of a great crowd in heaven saying,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 because his judgments are true and righteous,
because he has passed judgment on the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,
and has avenged the blood of his slaves shed by[a] her hand!”
3 And a second time they said,
“Hallelujah!”
And her smoke goes up forever and ever[b]. 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying,
“Amen! Hallelujah!”
5 And a voice came out from the throne, saying,
“Praise our God
all his slaves,
and those who fear him,
the small and the great!”
The Wedding Celebration of the Lamb
6 And I heard something like the sound of a great crowd and something like the sound of many waters and something like the sound of powerful thunder, saying,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord God,[c] the All-Powerful, reigns!
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him the glory,
because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.
8 And it has been granted to her that she be dressed in bright, clean fine linen (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).
9 And he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
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