Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Request to Act against Israel’s Neighbors
A song. A psalm of Asaph.[a]
83 O God, do not rest silently.
Do not keep silent or be still, O God.
2 For look, your enemies roar,
and those who hate you have lifted their head.
3 They devise cunning schemes[b] against your people,
and consult together against your protected ones.[c]
4 They say, “Come, let us annihilate them from being a nation,
so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
9 Do to them as you did with Midian,
as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the wadi of Kishon.
10 They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became dung for the ground.
17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever,
and let them be humiliated and perish
18 that they may know that you,
whose name is Yahweh, you alone,
are the Most High over the whole earth.
Esther’s Banquet
7 So the king and Haman went to dine[a] with Queen Esther. 2 And the king again said to Esther, on the second day while they were drinking,[b] “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What is your request? It will be given to you—even half the kingdom.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, and she said, “If I have found favor in your eyes,[c] O king, and if it is good to the king, let my life be given to me at my petition and my people at my request; 4 I and my people have been sold to be destroyed and killed, to be annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves I would have kept quiet, because this[d] is not a need sufficient to trouble the king.”[e] 5 And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who gave himself the right to do this?”[f] 6 And Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman!” And Haman was terrified before the king and queen.
Haman is Hanged
7 The king rose in his anger from the banquet[g] and went to the palace garden, and Haman stood to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he realized that the king was determined to make an end to his life.[h] 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,[i] where Haman was lying prostrate on the couch that Esther was on, and the king said, “Will he also molest the queen with me in the house?” As the words[j] went from the king’s mouth they covered Haman’s face. 9 And Habrona, one of the eunuchs in the presence of the king, said, “Look, the same gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai who spoke good for the sake of the king stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 And they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the anger of the king was abated.
A Faithful Slave and an Unfaithful Slave
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household slaves to give them their[a] food at the right time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find so doing when he[b] comes back. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave should say to himself,[c] ‘My master is staying away for a long time,’ 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour that he does not know, 51 and will cut him in two and assign his place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!
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