Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 140

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

Esther Saves the Jews

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.^{(A) 2} Then the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.^(B)

³ Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king.^{(C) 5} She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.^{(D) 6} For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”^{(E) 7} Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hung him on the pole because he plotted to kill^[a] the Jews.^{(F) 8} You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”^(G)

⁹ The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.^{(H) 10} He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king’s ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd.^{[b](I) 11} By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, their children, and their women, and to plunder their goods^{(J) 12} on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ¹³ A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies.^{(K) 14} So the couriers, mounted on their royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.^{(L) 16} For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. ¹⁷ In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.^(M)

Temptations to Sin

⁶ “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,^[a] it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.^{(A) 7} Woe to the world because of things that cause sin!^[b] Such things are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!^(B)

⁸ “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin,^[c] cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire.^{(C) 9} And if your eye causes you to sin,^[d] tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell^[e] of fire.^(D)