Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A shiggaion [a] by David; he sang it to the Lord about the ⌞slanderous⌟ words of Cush, a descendant of Benjamin.
7 O Lord my God, I have taken refuge in you.
Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me.
2 Like a lion they will tear me to pieces
and drag me off with no one to rescue me.
3 O Lord my God,
if I have done this—
if my hands are stained with injustice,
4 if I have paid back my friend with evil
or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me—
5 then let the enemy chase me and catch me.
Let him trample my life into the ground.
Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Arise in anger, O Lord.
Stand up against the fury of my attackers.
Wake up, my God.[b]
You have already pronounced judgment.
7 Let an assembly of people gather around you.
Take your seat high above them.
8 The Lord judges the people of the world.
Judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity.
9 Let the evil within wicked people come to an end,
but make the righteous person secure,
O righteous God who examines thoughts and emotions.
10 My shield is God above,
who saves those whose motives are decent.
11 God is a fair judge,
a God who is angered by injustice every day.
12 If a person does not change, God sharpens his sword.
By bending his bow, he makes it ready ⌞to shoot⌟.
13 He prepares his deadly weapons
and turns them into flaming arrows.
14 See how that person conceives evil,
is pregnant with harm,
and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit and shovels it out.
Then he falls into the hole that he made ⌞for others⌟.
16 His mischief lands back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of him.
17 I will give thanks to the Lord for his righteousness.
I will make music to praise the name of the Lord Most High.
Esther Becomes Queen
2 Later, when King Xerxes got over his raging anger, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decided against her.
2 So the king’s personal staff said to him, “Search for attractive young virgins for the king. 3 And appoint scouts in all the provinces of your kingdom to gather all the attractive young virgins and bring them to the fortress of Susa, to the women’s quarters. There, in the care of the king’s eunuch Hegai, the guardian of the women, they will have their beauty treatment. 4 Then the young woman who pleases you, Your Majesty, will become queen instead of Vashti.”
The king liked the suggestion, and so he did just that.
5 In the fortress of Susa there was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai. He was the son of Jair, the grandson of Shimei, and the great-grandson of Kish. 6 (Kish had been taken captive from Jerusalem together with the others who had gone into exile along with Judah’s King Jehoiakin,[a] whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away.) 7 Mordecai had raised Hadassah, also known as Esther, his uncle’s daughter, because she was an orphan. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.
8 When the king’s announcement and decree were heard, many young women were gathered together and brought to the fortress of Susa. They were placed in the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and placed in the care of Hegai, the guardian of the women. 9 The young woman pleased him and won his affection. So he immediately provided her with the beauty treatment, a daily supply of food, and seven suitable female servants from the king’s palace. Then he moved her and her servants to the best place in the women’s quarters.
10 Esther did not reveal her nationality or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to. 11 Every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard of the women’s quarters to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.
12 Each young woman had her turn to go to King Xerxes after she had completed the required 12-month treatment for women. The time of beauty treatment was spent as follows: six months using oil of myrrh and six months using perfumes and other treatments for women.
13 After that, the young woman would go to the king. Anything she wanted to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace was given to her. 14 She would go in the evening and come back in the morning to the other quarters for women. There she would be in the care of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, the guardian of the concubines.[b] She never went to the king again unless the king desired her and requested her by name.
15 (Esther was the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai’s uncle. Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.)
When Esther’s turn came to go to the king, she asked only for what the king’s eunuch Hegai, the guardian of the women, advised. Everyone who saw Esther liked her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Xerxes in his royal palace in the month of Tebeth, the tenth month, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 Now, the king loved Esther more than all the other women and favored her over all the other virgins. So he put the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king held a great banquet for Esther. He invited all his officials and his advisers. He also declared that day a holiday in the provinces, and he handed out gifts from his royal generosity.
8 Always think about Jesus Christ. He was brought back to life and is a descendant of David. This is the Good News that I tell others. 9 I’m suffering disgrace for spreading this Good News. I have even been put into prison like a criminal. However, God’s word is not imprisoned. 10 For that reason, I endure everything for the sake of those who have been chosen so that they, too, may receive salvation from Christ Jesus with glory that lasts forever. 11 This is a statement that can be trusted:
If we have died with him, we will live with him.
12 If we endure, we will rule with him.
If we disown him, he will disown us.
13 If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful
because he cannot be untrue to himself.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.