Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
140 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Rescue me, Adonai, from evil people,
protect me from violent people.
3 (2) They plan evil things in their hearts —
they continually stir up bitter strife.
4 (3) They have made their tongues as sharp as a snake’s;
viper’s venom is under their lips. (Selah)
5 (4) Keep me, Adonai, from the hands of the wicked,
protect me from violent people
who are trying to trip me up.
6 (5) The arrogant hide snares for me;
they spread nets by the side of the road,
hoping to trap me there. (Selah)
7 (6) I said to Adonai, “You are my God;
listen, Adonai, to my plea for mercy.”
8 (7) Adonai, Adonai, my saving strength,
my helmet shielding my head in battle,
9 (8) Adonai, don’t grant the wicked their wishes;
make their plot fail, so they won’t grow proud. (Selah)
10 (9) May the heads of those who surround me
be engulfed in the evil they spoke of, themselves.
11 (10) May burning coals rain down on them,
may they be flung into the fire,
flung into deep pits,
never to rise again.
12 (11) Let slanderers find no place in the land;
let the violent and evil be hunted relentlessly.
13 (12) I know that Adonai gives justice to the poor
and maintains the rights of the needy.
14 (13) The righteous will surely give thanks to your name;
the upright will live in your presence.
5 On the third day, Ester put on her royal robes and stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the king’s hall, across from the entrance to the hall. 2 When the king saw Ester the queen standing in the courtyard, she won his favor; so the king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Ester. Ester approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 “What is it you want, Queen Ester?” the king asked her. “Whatever your request, up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.” 4 “If it is all right with the king,” answered Ester, “let the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for him.” 5 The king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that what Ester has asked for can be done.” (6) So the king and Haman came to the banquet Ester had prepared.
6 (7) At the banquet of wine the king again said to Ester, “Whatever your request, you will be granted it; whatever you want, up to half the kingdom, it will be done.” 7 (8) Then Ester answered, “My request, what I want, is this: 8 if I have won the king’s favor, if it pleases the king to grant my request and do what I want, let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them; and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
9 That day Haman went out happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordekhai at the King’s Gate, that he neither rose nor moved for him, Haman was infuriated with Mordekhai. 10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, where he summoned and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife. 11 Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and everything connected with how the king had promoted him and given him precedence over the other officials and servants of the king. 12 “Indeed,” Haman added, “Ester the queen let nobody into the banquet with the king that she had prepared except myself; and tomorrow, too, I am invited by her, together with the king. 13 Yet none of this does me any good at all, as long as I keep seeing Mordekhai the Jew remaining seated at the King’s Gate.” 14 At this Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet high constructed, and in the morning speak to the king about having Mordekhai hanged on it. Then go in, and enjoy yourself with the king at the banquet.” Haman liked the idea, so he had a gallows made.
18 Children, this is the Last Hour. You have heard that an Anti-Messiah is coming; and in fact, many anti-Messiahs have arisen now — which is how we know that this is the Last Hour. 19 They went out from us, but they weren’t part of us; for had they been part of us, they would have remained with us.
20 But you have received the Messiah’s anointing from HaKadosh, and you know all this. 21 It is not because you don’t know the truth that I have written to you, but because you do know it, and because no lie has its origin in the truth. 22 Who is a liar at all, if not the person who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? Such a person is an anti-Messiah — he is denying the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son is also without the Father, but the person who acknowledges the Son has the Father as well. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in union with both the Son and the Father. 25 And this is what he has promised us: eternal life.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.