Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Haman Is Hanged
7 So the king and Haman went in to eat with Queen Esther. 2 They were drinking wine. And the king said to Esther on this second day also, “What are you asking for? I will give it to you. What is it you want? I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “My king, I hope you are pleased with me. If it pleases you, let me live. This is what I ask. And let my people live, too. This is what I want. 4 I ask this because my people and I have been sold to be destroyed. We are to be killed and completely wiped out. If we had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet. That would not be enough of a problem to bother the king.”
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he? Who has done such a thing?”
6 Esther said, “A man who is against us! Our enemy is this wicked Haman!”
Then Haman was filled with terror before the king and queen.
9 Harbona was one of the eunuchs there serving the king. He said, “Look, a platform for hanging people stands near Haman’s house. It is 75 feet high. This is the one Haman had prepared for Mordecai, who gave the warning that saved the king.”
The king said, “Hang Haman on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the platform he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king was not so angry anymore.
20 Mordecai wrote down everything that had happened. Then he sent letters to all the Jews in all the empire of King Xerxes. He sent letters to places far and near. 21 Mordecai did this to have the Jews celebrate every year. They were to celebrate on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. 22 It was to celebrate a time when the Jews got rid of their enemies. They were also to celebrate it as the month their sadness was turned to joy. It was the month when their crying for the dead was turned into celebration. Mordecai wrote letters to all the Jews. He wrote to tell them to celebrate those days as days of joyful feasting. It was to be a time of giving food to each other. And it was a time of giving presents to the poor.
The Lord Saves His People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
(Let Israel repeat this.)
2 What if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us?
3 When they were angry with us,
they would have swallowed us alive.
4 They would have been like a flood drowning us.
They would have poured over us like a river.
5 They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.
6 Praise the Lord.
He did not let them chew us up.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the hunter’s trap.
The trap has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The Power of Prayer
13 If one of you is having troubles, he should pray. If one of you is happy, he should sing praises. 14 If one of you is sick, he should call the church’s elders. The elders should pour oil on him[a] in the name of the Lord and pray for him. 15 And the prayer that is said with faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will heal him. And if he has sinned, God will forgive him. 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other. Do this so that God can heal you. When a good man prays, great things happen. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land for three and a half years! 18 Then Elijah prayed again. And the rain came down from the sky, and the land grew crops again.
Saving a Soul
19 My brothers, one of you may wander away from the truth. And someone may help him come back. 20 Remember this: Anyone who brings a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner’s soul from death. By doing this, that person will cause many sins to be forgiven.
Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us
38 Then John said, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of a person. We told him to stop, because he does not belong to our group.”
39 Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. Anyone who uses my name to do powerful things will not say evil things about me. 40 He who is not against us is with us. 41 I tell you the truth. If anyone helps you by giving you a drink of water because you belong to the Christ, then he will truly get his reward.
42 “If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, then it will be very bad for him. It would be better for him to have a large stone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body but have life forever. That is much better than to have two hands and go to hell. In that place the fire never goes out. 44 [In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never stopped.][a] 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body but have life forever. That is much better than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 [In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never stopped.][b] 47 If your eye causes you to sin, take it out. It is better for you to have only one eye but have life forever. That is much better than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. 48 In hell the worm does not die; the fire is never stopped. 49 Every person will be salted with fire.
50 “Salt is good. But if the salt loses its salty taste, then you cannot make it salty again. So, be full of goodness. And have peace with each other.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.