Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.
A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”(A)
2
Our feet are standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
3
Jerusalem, that is built
As a city that is firmly joined together;
4
To which the [twelve] tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord,
[As was decreed as] an ordinance for Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5
For there the thrones of judgment were set,
The thrones of the house of David.
6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you [holy city].
7
“May peace be within your walls
And prosperity within your palaces.”
8
For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
9
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God [which is Jerusalem],
I will seek your (the city’s) good.
Esther’s Plea
7 So the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be done.” 3 Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people [be spared] as my request; 4 for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed and wiped out of existence. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for our hardship would not be sufficient to burden the king [by even mentioning it].” 5 Then King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who dares to do such a thing?” 6 Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy is Haman, this evil man.” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
Haman Is Hanged
7 Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even attempt to assault the queen with me in the palace?” As the king spoke those words, the servants covered Haman’s face [in preparation for execution]. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs serving the king said, “Now look, there are gallows fifty cubits (75 ft.) high standing at Haman’s house, which Haman made for Mordecai, whose good warning saved the king.” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.
The Patmos Vision
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the [a]tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, [exiled there] because of [my preaching of] the word of God [regarding eternal salvation] and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the [b]Spirit [in special communication with the Holy Spirit and empowered to receive and record the revelation from Jesus Christ] on the [c]Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see [in this revelation], and send it to the [d]seven churches—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And after turning I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the midst of the lampstands I saw someone [e]like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe reaching to His feet, and with a golden sash wrapped around His chest.(A) 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, [glistening white] like snow; and His [all-seeing] eyes were [flashing] like a flame of fire [piercing into my being].(B) 15 His feet were like burnished [white-hot] bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was [powerful] like the sound of many waters.(C) 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [of judgment]; and His face [reflecting His majesty and the [f]Shekinah glory] was like the sun shining in [all] its power [at midday].(D)
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. And He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last [absolute Deity, the Son of God],(E) 18 and the Ever-living One [living in and beyond all time and space]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of [absolute control and victory over] death and of Hades (the realm of the dead). 19 So write the things [g]which you have seen [in the vision], and the things [h]which are [now happening], and the things [i]which will take place after these things. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels ([j]divine messengers) of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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