Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

9 Now ^(A)in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on ^(B)the thirteenth ^[a]day, ^(C)when the king’s command and edict were to be put into effect, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it turned out to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained mastery over those who hated them. ^2 (D)The Jews assembled in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to ^[b]attack those who sought ^[c]to harm them; and no one could stand against them, ^(E)because the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. ³ Even all the officials of the provinces, ^(F)the satraps, the governors, and those who were doing the king’s business were supporting the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and the news about him spread throughout the provinces; for the man Mordecai ^(G)became greater and greater. ⁵ So ^(H)the Jews struck all their enemies with ^[d]the sword, killing and destroying; and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.

¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa ^(A)assembled on the thirteenth and ^(B)the fourteenth ^[a]of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth ^[b]day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the rural areas, who live in ^(C)the rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a ^[c](D)holiday for rejoicing and feasting and ^(E)sending portions of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

²⁰ Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day ^[d]of the same month, annually, ²² because on those days the Jews ^[e]rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was ^(F)turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a ^[f]holiday; that they were to make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and ^(G)sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor.

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

⁴ “Now I say to you, ^(A)My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵ But I will warn you whom to fear: ^(B)fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into ^[a](C)hell; yes, I tell you, fear ^[b]Him! ⁶ Are ^(D)five sparrows not sold for two ^[c]assaria? And yet not one of them has gone unnoticed in the sight of God. ^7 (E)But even the hairs of your head are all counted. ^[d]Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.

⁸ “Now I say to you, everyone who ^(F)confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God; ⁹ but ^(G)the one who denies Me before people will be denied ^(H)before the angels of God. ^10 (I)And everyone who ^[e]speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. ¹¹ Now when they bring you before ^(J)the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not ^(K)worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; ¹² for ^(L)the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”