Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Haman Executed
7 So the king and Haman entered to feast and drink with Queen Esther. 2 The king repeated to Esther what he had said on the previous day while drinking wine, “For what are you asking, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. Now, what is your request? Even if it is half of the kingdom, it will be done!”
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, at my petition, let my life be given me, and my people at my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated. If only we had been sold as male and female slaves, I could have kept quiet, for that distress would not be sufficient to trouble the king.”
5 Then King Ahasuerus answered and demanded of Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do so?”
6 Esther said, “This wicked Haman is the adversary and enemy!”
Then Haman was seized with terror before the king and the queen.
9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in the king’s presence, said, “The gallows, fifty cubits[a] high, which Haman had constructed for Mordecai (who had spoken good on behalf of the king), stands at the house of Haman.”
10 Then the king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.
20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 in order to institute for them the celebration for the fourteenth day and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar, each and every year, 22 like the days when the Jews had rest from their enemies, and like the month when things turned around for them—changing from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a favorable day—so that they could celebrate a season of feasting and rejoicing and sending food portions to one another and gifts to the poor.
Psalm 124
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
now may Israel say,
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when men rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up,
when their wrath was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have overwhelmed us,
the torrent would have passed over our lives;
5 then the surging waters
would have gone over us.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us for a prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped
as a bird out of the snare of the hunters;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.
17 Elijah was a man subject to natural passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
19 Brothers, if any one of you strays from the truth and someone corrects him, 20 let him know that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
He Who Is Not Against Us Is for Us(A)
38 John answered Him, “Teacher, we saw one who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he was not following us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who does a miracle in My name can quickly speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, will not lose his reward.
Temptations to Sin(B)
42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, 44 where
‘their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’[a]
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, 46 where
‘their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’[b]
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the fire of hell, 48 where
‘their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’[c]
49 Everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.
50 “Salt is good. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.