Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 83
Prayer against Enemies
A song. A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, do not keep silent.
Do not be deaf, God; do not be quiet.(B)
2 See how your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have acted arrogantly.[a](C)
3 They devise clever schemes against your people;
they conspire against your treasured ones.(D)
4 They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation
so that Israel’s name will no longer be remembered.”(E)
Haman Is Executed
7 The king and Haman came to feast[a](A) with Esther the queen. 2 Once again, on the second day while drinking wine,(B) the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”(C)
3 Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased,(D) spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire.(E) 4 For my people and I have been sold(F) to destruction, death, and annihilation.(G) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves,(H) I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”
5 King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” [b](I)
6 Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy(J) is this evil Haman.”
Haman stood terrified(K) before the king and queen. 7 The king arose in anger(L) and went from where they were drinking wine to the palace garden.[c](M) Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him.(N) 8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,[d] Haman was falling on the couch(O) where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.(P)
9 Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs,(Q) said, “There is a gallows seventy-five feet[e] tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai,(R) who gave the report that saved[f] the king.”(S)
The king said, “Hang him on it.”
10 They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.(T) Then the king’s anger subsided.(U)
Faithful Service to Christ
45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant,(A) whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?(B) 46 Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.(C) 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and starts to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards,(D) 50 that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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