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 idle.(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 us 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 obtained your approval,[b] my king, 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 out(F) to destruction, death, and extermination.(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?”[c](I)
6 Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy(J) is this evil Haman.”
Haman stood terrified(K) before the king and queen. 7 Angered(L) by this, the king arose from where they were drinking wine and went to the palace garden.(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 house of wine drinking, 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 palace?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, Haman’s face was covered.(P)
9 Harbona, one of the royal eunuchs,(Q) said: “There is a gallows 75 feet[d] tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai,(R) who gave the report that saved[e] the king.”(S)
The king commanded, “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 the Messiah
45 “Who then is a faithful and sensible slave,(A) whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?(B) 46 That slave whose master finds him working(C) when he comes will be rewarded. 47 I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,(D) 50 that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. 51 He will cut him to pieces[a] and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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