Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 140
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men;
2 They devise mischiefs in their heart; continually they gather together and stir up wars.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent’s; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent men who have purposed to thrust aside my steps.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me; they have spread cords as a net by the wayside, they have set traps for me. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
6 I said to the Lord, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my supplications, O Lord.
7 O God the Lord, the Strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; further not their wicked plot and device, lest they exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 Those who are fencing me in raise their heads; may the mischief of their own lips and the very things they desire for me come upon them.
10 Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into floods of water or deep water pits, from which they shall not rise.
11 Let not a man of slanderous tongue be established in the earth; let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him [let calamity follow his evildoings].
12 I know and rest in confidence upon it that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will secure justice for the poor and needy [of His believing children].
13 Surely the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell in Your presence (before Your very face).
5 On the third day [of the fast] Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the royal or inner court of the king’s palace opposite his [throne room]. The king was sitting on his throne, facing the main entrance of the palace.
2 And when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, and he held out to [her] the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the tip of the scepter.
3 Then the king said to her, What will you have, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of the kingdom.
4 And Esther said, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the dinner that I have prepared for the king.
5 Then the king said, Cause Haman to come quickly, that what Esther has said may be done.
6 So the king and Haman came to the dinner that Esther had prepared.
7 And during the serving of wine, the king said to Esther, What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed.
8 Then Esther said, My petition and my request is: If I have found favor in the sight of the king and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the dinner that I shall prepare for them; and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.
9 Haman went away that day joyful and elated in heart. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate refusing to stand up or show fear before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. There he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife.
11 And Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the abundance of his [ten] sons, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
12 Haman added, Yes, and today Queen Esther did not let any man come with the king to the dinner she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.
13 Yet all this benefits me nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits [seventy-five feet] high, and in the morning speak to the king, that Mordecai may be hanged on it; then you go in merrily with the king to the dinner. And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made.
18 [a]Boys (lads), it is the last time (hour, the end of this age). And as you have heard that the antichrist [he who will oppose Christ in the guise of Christ] is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, which confirms our belief that it is the final (the end) time.
19 They went out from our number, but they did not [really] belong to us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they withdrew] that it might be plain that they all are not of us.
20 But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.
21 I write to you not because you are ignorant and do not perceive and know the Truth, but because you do perceive and know it, and [know positively] that nothing false (no deception, no lie) is of the Truth.
22 Who is [such a] liar as he who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah)? He is the antichrist (the antagonist of Christ), who [[b]habitually] denies and refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son.
23 No one who [[c]habitually] denies (disowns) the Son [d]even has the Father. Whoever confesses (acknowledges and has) the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, keep in your hearts what you have heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the first dwells and remains in you, then you will dwell in the Son and in the Father [always].
25 And this is what He Himself has promised us—the life, the eternal [life].
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation