Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 King Ahasuerus and Haman came to dine with Queen Esther; 2 and while they were drinking wine, the king posed his question once again.
King Ahasuerus: What is your request, Queen Esther? I’m willing to give you anything you want. Just make your request. Even if it’s half the kingdom you desire, I will make it happen!
Queen Esther: 3 If you favor me, my king, and if it pleases you, spare my life. That’s all I’m asking for—that my people and I be spared. That is my wish. 4 There are some, my king, who wish to rid your kingdom of us. For my people and I have been sold, marked for destruction and massacre. Now if the plan were simply to sell our men and women into slavery, I would have kept my mouth closed because that would not have been important enough to disturb you, my king.
Esther’s plea to Ahasuerus echoes the words of Moses to Pharaoh: “Let my people go.”
King Ahasuerus: 5 Who has targeted your people? Where is this man who dares to do this?
Queen Esther (pointing to Haman): 6 The man responsible for these actions is wicked Haman. He is vile, and an enemy to my people.
In that moment, Haman’s joy turned to terror before the king and queen.
9 One of those eunuchs was Harbonah.
Harbonah: Look! Haman has prepared a 75-foot pole for execution in his own courtyard. He was hoping to use it to hang Mordecai, the man who spoke up and saved the king.
King Ahasuerus: Well, hang him on it!
10 So they took Haman and killed him and displayed him on the pole he had made ready for Mordecai. And King Ahasuerus’ anger subsided.
20 Mordecai kept a detailed journal of all these events, and he corresponded often with all of the Jews from every corner of King Ahasuerus’ kingdom, regardless of its distance from Susa. 21 He reminded them to remember and celebrate the 14th and 15th days of Adar every year (based on the day of each group) 22 and to celebrate as faithfully as they did on the days in which the Jews were granted relief from their enemies. He wanted them to savor the month of Adar as a time when their sadness turned into gladness and their mourning into celebration. He encouraged them to celebrate with food and drink, to send gifts, and to offer help to the poor.
Psalm 124
A song of David for those journeying to worship.
1 If the Eternal had not been with us—
sing, Israel, sing—
2 If He had not been with us
when the villains came for us,
3 When their anger flamed around us,
they would have swallowed us up alive!
4 Their hatred was like a flood:
the waters were rising and would have engulfed us;
the streams were rushing past and would have overcome us.
5 The furious waters would have broken over us.
Battered and overwhelmed, we surely would have drowned!
6 Blessed be the Eternal
who did not leave us
to be torn by their fangs!
7 Our souls cry out: “We escaped with our lives like a bird
from the fowler’s snare!
The snare was broken,
and we escaped with our lives!”
8 Our help has come in the name of the Eternal,
the Maker of heaven and earth!
13 Are any in your community suffering? They should pray. Are any celebrating? They should sing praises to God. 14 Are any sick? They should call the elders of your church and ask them to pray. They will gather around and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayers offered in faith will restore them from sickness and bring them to health. The Lord will lift them up from the floor of despair; and if the sickness is due to sin, then God will forgive their sins. 16 So own up to your sins to one another and pray for one another. In the end, you may be healed. Your prayers are powerful when they are rooted in a righteous life. 17 Remember Elijah? He was a man, no different from us. He prayed with great intensity asking God to withhold the rain; God answered his prayers and did not allow a single drop of rain to fall for three and a half years. 18 It did not rain until Elijah prayed again for God to open the skies, when the rain came down and the earth produced a great crop.
Why should we bother to pray if God already knows what we are going to ask for? Prayer involves so much more than making personal requests. It connects us with God and works to bring our wills into conformity with His.
How, then, should we pray? First, James tells us to pray in community, not just by ourselves and for ourselves. When we pray together, life is shared and community is born. We also confess our sins, not just to God, but to each other. Through this vulnerable transparency, God knits souls together in authentic community, and we discover the true benefit of prayer.
19 Brothers and sisters, if someone you know loses his way and rebels against God, pursue him in love and bring him back to the truth. 20 Know this: If you turn a sinner back from the error of his ways, then you will rescue him from the grips of death and cover the pain and consequences of untold sins.
John (to Jesus): 38 Master, we saw another man casting out unclean spirits in Your name, but he was not one of our group. So we told him to stop what he was doing.
Jesus: 39 You shouldn’t have said that. Anyone using My name to do a miracle cannot turn quickly to speak evil of Me. 40 Anyone who isn’t against us is for us. 41 The truth of the matter is this: anyone who gives you a cup of cool water to drink because you carry the name of your Anointed One will be rewarded.
42 But if anyone turns even the smallest of My followers away from Me, it would be better for him if someone had hung a millstone around his neck and flung him into the deepest part of the sea.
43 If your hand turns you away from the things of God, then you should cut it off. It’s better to come into eternal life maimed than to have two hands and be flung into hell— [44 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.][a]
45 If your foot trips you on the path, you should cut it off. It’s better to come into eternal life crawling than to have two feet and be flung into hell— [46 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.][b]
47 And if your eye keeps you from seeing clearly, then you should pull it out. It’s better to come into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be flung into hell, 48 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.[c] 49 Everyone will be salted with fire[, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt].[d] 50 Salt is a good thing; but if it has lost its zest, how can it be seasoned again? You should have salt within yourselves and peace with one another.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.