Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Happy People in Jerusalem
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
122 I was happy when they said to me,
“Let’s go to the Temple of the Lord.”
2 Jerusalem, we are standing
at your gates.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
where friends can come together.
4 The people from the tribes go up there.
The tribes belong to the Lord.
It is the rule to praise
the Lord at Jerusalem.
5 There the descendants of David
set their thrones to judge the people.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“May those who love her be safe.
7 May there be peace within her walls
and safety within her strong towers.”
8 To help my relatives and friends,
I repeat, “Let Jerusalem have peace.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I wish good for her.
Haman Is Hanged
7 So the king and Haman went in to eat with Queen Esther. 2 They were drinking wine. And the king said to Esther on this second day also, “What are you asking for? I will give it to you. What is it you want? I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “My king, I hope you are pleased with me. If it pleases you, let me live. This is what I ask. And let my people live, too. This is what I want. 4 I ask this because my people and I have been sold to be destroyed. We are to be killed and completely wiped out. If we had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet. That would not be enough of a problem to bother the king.”
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he? Who has done such a thing?”
6 Esther said, “A man who is against us! Our enemy is this wicked Haman!”
Then Haman was filled with terror before the king and queen. 7 The king was very angry. He got up, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed inside to beg Queen Esther to save his life. He could see that the king had already decided to kill him.
8 The king came back from the palace garden to the banquet hall. And he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying. The king said, “Will he even attack the queen while I am in the house?”
As soon as the king said that, servants came in and covered Haman’s face. 9 Harbona was one of the eunuchs there serving the king. He said, “Look, a platform for hanging people stands near Haman’s house. It is 75 feet high. This is the one Haman had prepared for Mordecai, who gave the warning that saved the king.”
The king said, “Hang Haman on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the platform he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king was not so angry anymore.
9 I am John, and I am your brother in Christ. We are together in Jesus, and we share in these things: in suffering, in the kingdom, and in patience. I was on the island of Patmos[a] because I had preached God’s message and the truth about Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s day the Spirit took control of me. I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. 11 The voice said, “Write what you see and send that book to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. 13 I saw someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man.”[b] He was dressed in a long robe. He had a gold band around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace. His voice was like the noise of flooding water. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the One who lives. I was dead, but look: I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and where the dead are. 19 So write the things you see, what is now and what will happen later. 20 Here is the hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands that you saw: The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.