Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Implored to Confound His Enemies.
A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.
83 O God, (A)do not remain quiet;
(B)Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
2 For behold, Your enemies (C)make an uproar,
And (D)those who hate You have [a](E)exalted themselves.
3 They (F)make shrewd plans against Your people,
And [b]conspire together against (G)Your [c]treasured ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and (H)let us wipe them out [d]as a nation,
That the (I)name of Israel be remembered no more.”
Esther’s Plea
7 Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also [a]as they drank their wine at the banquet, “(A)What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? (B)Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.” 3 Then Queen Esther replied, “(C)If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; 4 for (D)we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, (E)to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the [b]trouble would not be commensurate with the [c]annoyance to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus [d]asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, [e]who would presume to do thus?” 6 Esther said, “(F)A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
Haman Is Hanged
7 The king arose (G)in his anger from [f]drinking wine and went into (H)the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the [g]place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on (I)the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, “Behold indeed, (J)the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai (K)who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 (L)So they hanged Haman on the [h]gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, (M)and the king’s anger subsided.
45 “(A)Who then is the (B)faithful and (C)sensible slave whom his [a]master (D)put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his [b]master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that (E)he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My [c]master [d]is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the [e]master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will [f]cut him in pieces and [g]assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be (F)weeping and gnashing of teeth.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.