Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

Esther’s Plea

7 Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. ² And the king said to Esther on the second day also ^[a]as they drank their wine at the banquet, “^(A)What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your wish? ^(B)Up to half of the kingdom it shall be done.” ³ Then Queen Esther replied, “^(C)If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my request, and my people as my wish; ⁴ for ^(D)we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, ^(E)killed, and eliminated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have kept silent, because the distress would not be sufficient reason to burden the king.” ⁵ Then King Ahasuerus ^[b]asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, ^[c]who would presume to do such a thing?” ⁶ And Esther said, “^(F)A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷ The king then got up ^(G)in his anger from ^[d]drinking wine and went into ^(H)the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. ⁸ Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the ^[e]place where they had been drinking wine, Haman was falling on ^(I)the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who stood before the king, said, “Indeed, behold, ^(J)the wooden gallows standing at Haman’s house ^[f]fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai ^(K)who spoke good in behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” ^10 (L)So they hanged Haman on the wooden gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, ^(M)and the king’s anger subsided.

The Patmos Vision

^9 (A)I, John, your ^(B)brother and ^(C)fellow participant in the tribulation and ^(D)kingdom and ^[a](E)perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^(F)because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰ I was ^(G)in the ^[b]Spirit on ^(H)the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(I)like the sound of a trumpet, ¹¹ saying, “^(J)Write ^[c]on a scroll what you see, and send it to the ^(K)seven churches: to ^(L)Ephesus, ^(M)Smyrna, ^(N)Pergamum, ^(O)Thyatira, ^(P)Sardis, ^(Q)Philadelphia, and ^(R)Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw ^(S)seven golden lampstands; ¹³ and ^(T)in the middle of the lampstands I saw one ^(U)like ^[d]a son of man, ^(V)clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and ^(W)wrapped around the chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴ His head and His ^(X)hair were white like white wool, like snow; and ^(Y)His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His ^(Z)feet were like ^[e]burnished bronze when it has been heated to a glow in a furnace, and His ^(AA)voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held ^(AB)seven stars, and out of His mouth came a ^(AC)sharp two-edged sword; and His ^(AD)face was like ^(AE)the sun ^[f]shining in its strength.

¹⁷ When I saw Him, I ^(AF)fell at His feet like a dead man. And He ^(AG)placed His right hand on me, saying, “^(AH)Do not be afraid; ^(AI)I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the ^(AJ)living One; and I ^[g](AK)was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have ^(AL)the keys of death and of Hades. ¹⁹ Therefore ^(AM)write ^(AN)the things which you have seen, ^[h]and the things which are, and the things which will take place ^(AO)after these things. ²⁰ As for the ^(AP)mystery of the ^(AQ)seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the ^(AR)seven golden lampstands: the ^(AS)seven stars are the angels of ^(AT)the seven churches, and the seven ^(AU)lampstands are the seven churches.