Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
16 But I call upon God,
and the Lord will save me.(A)
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.(B)
18 He will redeem me unharmed
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.(C)
19 God, who is enthroned from of old, Selah
will hear and will humble them,
because they do not change
and do not fear God.(D)
20 My companion laid hands on a friend
and violated a covenant with me[a](E)
21 with speech smoother than butter
but with a heart set on war,
with words that were softer than oil
but in fact were drawn swords.(F)
22 Cast your burden[b] on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.(G)
23 But you, O God, will cast them down
into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.(H)
7 The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to destroy him. 8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining, and the king said, “Will he even violate the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face.(A) 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very pole that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king,[a] stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”(B) 10 So they hung Haman on the pole that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Esther Saves the Jews
8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.(C) 2 Then the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.(D)
3 Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. 4 The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king.(E) 5 She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.(F) 6 For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”(G) 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hung him on the pole because he plotted to kill[b] the Jews.(H) 8 You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”(I)
9 The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.(J) 10 He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king’s ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd.[c](K) 11 By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, their children, and their women, and to plunder their goods(L) 12 on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies.(M) 14 So the couriers, mounted on their royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.
15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.(N) 16 For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.(O)
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’(A) 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,(B) 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.(C) 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.(D)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.