Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

7 ¶ So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther, the queen.

² And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee. What is thy request? And it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

³ Then Esther, the queen, answered and said, If I have found grace in thy sight, O king and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request.

⁴ For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. If we had been sold for menslaves and womenslaves, I would remain silent, even though the enemy could not recompense the damage to the king.

⁵ And King Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther, the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that has filled his heart with the arrogance to do so?

⁶ Then Esther said, The man who is the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

⁹ Then said Harbonah, one of the eunuchs before the king, Behold also, the gallows {Heb. stake} fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, stands in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him upon it.

¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.

²⁰ ¶ And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹ to establish this among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

²² as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of banquet and joy and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor.

A Song of degrees of David.

¹ ¶ If the LORD had not been for us, now may Israel say,

² If the LORD had not been for us, when men rose up against us,

³ then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

⁴ then the waters would have overwhelmed us; the flood would have gone over our soul;

⁵ then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

⁶ ¶ Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷ Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare has broken, and we are escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made the heaven and the earth.

¹³ Is anyone among you afflicted? let them pray. Is anyone happy? let them sing.

¹⁴ Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the congregation; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

¹⁵ and the prayer of faith shall cause the one who is sick to be saved, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven them.

¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be whole. The effectual prayer of the righteous is very powerful.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man subject to passions like unto ours, and he asked in prayer that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

¹⁹ Brethren, if any of you have erred from the truth, and someone should convert him;

²⁰ let that one know, that whosoever causes the sinner to convert from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins.

³⁸ And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy name and he does not follow us; and we forbade him because he does not follow us.

³⁹ But Jesus said, Forbid him not, for there is no one who does a miracle in my name that can then speak evil of me.

⁴⁰ For he that is not against us is for us.

⁴¹ ¶ For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because ye are of the Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

⁴² And whosoever shall be a stumbling block to one of these little ones that believe in me, it would be better for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

⁴³ And if thy hand causes thee to fall, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that can never be quenched,

⁴⁴ where their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁵ And if thy foot causes thee to fall, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that can never be quenched,

⁴⁶ where their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁷ And if thine eye causes thee to fall, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell,

⁴⁸ where their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁹ For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltness, with what will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.