Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song to sing as we climb.

David wrote this song.

Haman dies

7 King Xerxes and Haman went to the meal that Queen Esther had prepared. ² This was the second day that they ate a special meal together. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘Queen Esther, what do you want me to do for you? I will give you whatever you want. Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

³ Queen Esther replied, ‘Sir, I hope that you are pleased with me. If you agree, I ask you to save my life. Also save the lives of my people. That is what I ask you to do. ⁴ Someone has sold me and my people as if we are animals. Now they will kill us and completely destroy us all. If we had been sold to become slaves, I would not have spoken to the king. It would not have been important enough for that.’

⁵ Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man? Who would even think of anything like that? Where is he?’

⁶ Esther replied, ‘The enemy of our people is this wicked man Haman!’

Then Haman became very afraid, as he sat there with the king and the queen.^[a]

⁷ The king was very angry and he stood up. He left his wine and he went into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king wanted to destroy him. So he stayed with Queen Esther and he asked her to save his life. ⁸ Queen Esther was lying down on a bed. Haman threw himself down beside her. At that moment, the king returned from the garden. The king shouted, ‘What is this man doing? He even attacks the queen when she is with me in my palace!’^[b]

While the king was still saying this, his servants covered Haman's head.^[c]

⁹ One of the king's eunuchs, Harbona, said, ‘There is a wooden tower near Haman's home. It is 22 metres high. His men built it so that he could hang Mordecai on it. Mordecai is the man who saved the king's life.’

The king said, ‘Hang Haman on the tower until he is dead.’

¹⁰ So they took Haman and they hanged him on the tower until he was dead. It was the same tower that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai on. After that, the king did not feel so angry.

Jesus appears to John

⁹ I am John. I am a believer, as you are. I am like your brother and your friend. Because we belong to Jesus' kingdom, we are having trouble and pain. So we all need to be strong and patient, as Jesus helps us. The Roman leaders punished me because I taught God's message. I told people the true message about Jesus. That is why they sent me to Patmos island.^[a]

¹⁰ On the Lord's day, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear things.^[b] I heard a voice speak behind me. The sound was as loud as a trumpet. ¹¹ The voice said: ‘When you see these things, write them in a book. Then you must send the book to the seven churches in these cities:

¹² I turned round to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands with their lights. ¹³ In the middle of the lights, I saw someone like a son of man.^[c] He was wearing long clothes that reached down to his feet. He wore a gold belt around the top part of his body. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like sheep's hair. They were very white, like snow. His eyes were like fires that were burning brightly. ¹⁵ His feet shone like a metal that shines brightly in a very hot fire. When he spoke, his voice was very loud. It was like the sound of water that pours along a river very quickly. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand. A sword with two sharp edges came out of his mouth. His face was like the sun when it shines very brightly.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead person. Then he put his right hand on me, and he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid! I am the one who is the first and also the last. ¹⁸ I am the one who always lives. I died once. But look! Now I am alive and I will be alive for ever. I have authority over death and over Hades, the place for dead people.^{[d] 19} So write down the things that you have seen. Write about what you see that is happening now. Also write about the things that will happen later.

²⁰ You saw seven stars that I held in my right hand. You saw seven lights in their gold lampstands. Now I will tell you what they mean. The seven stars show what the angels of the seven churches are like.^[e] The seven lights in their lampstands show what the seven churches themselves are like.’