Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord’s Goodness to the Faithful

A Psalm of David.

⁷ In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ^(A)they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman ^[a]to determine the day and the ^[b]month, ^[c]until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^(B)their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

¹⁰ So the king ^(C)took ^(D)his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the ^(E)enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

^12 (F)Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province ^(G)according to its script, and to every people in their language. ^(H)In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³ And the letters were ^(I)sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, ^(J)in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and ^(K)to plunder their ^[d]possessions. ^14 (L)A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in ^[e]Shushan the ^[f]citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but ^(M)the city of Shushan was ^[g]perplexed.

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you ^(A)by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— ²³ Him, ^(B)being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, ^(C)you ^[a]have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; ^24 (D)whom God raised up, having ^[b]loosed the ^[c]pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. ²⁵ For David says concerning Him:

²⁹ “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you ^(G)of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, being a prophet, ^(H)and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, ^[d]according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, ³¹ he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, ^(I)that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ^32 (J)This Jesus God has raised up, ^(K)of which we are all witnesses. ³³ Therefore ^(L)being exalted ^[e]to ^(M)the right hand of God, and ^(N)having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He ^(O)poured out this which you now see and hear.

³⁴ “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”