Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of David.

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

9 ^(A)Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ^(B)on the thirteenth day of the same, ^(C)when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, ^(D)on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. ^2 (E)The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, ^(F)for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. ³ All the officials of the provinces and ^(G)the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew ^(H)more and more powerful. ⁵ The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.

¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered ^(A)on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested ^(B)on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in ^(C)the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as ^(D)a holiday, and ^(E)as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

²⁰ And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, ²² as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into ^(F)a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

Have No Fear

⁴ “I tell you, my friends, ^(A)do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵ But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him ^(B)who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.^[a] Yes, I tell you, fear him! ⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?^[b] And ^(C)not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷ Why, ^(D)even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; ^(E)you are of more value than many sparrows.

Acknowledge Christ Before Men

⁸ “And I tell you, ^(F)everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge ^(G)before the angels of God, ⁹ but ^(H)the one who denies me before men ^(I)will be denied ^(J)before the angels of God. ¹⁰ And ^(K)everyone who speaks a word ^(L)against the Son of Man ^(M)will be forgiven, but the one who ^(N)blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ^11 (O)And when they ^(P)bring you before the synagogues and ^(Q)the rulers and ^(R)the authorities, ^(S)do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, ^12 (T)for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”