Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song by David for going up to worship.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let’s go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built to be a city
where the people are united.
4 All of the Lord’s tribes go to that city
because it is a law in Israel
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 The court of justice sits there.
It consists of ⌞princes who are⌟ David’s descendants.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
7 May there be peace inside your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends, let me say,
“May it go well for you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek what is good for you.
The Jews Defend Themselves
9 On the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month, the king’s command and decree were to be carried out. On that very day, when the enemies of the Jews expected to overpower them, the exact opposite happened: The Jews overpowered those who hated them.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes to kill those who were planning to harm them. No one could stand up against them, because all the people were terrified of them. 3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s treasurers assisted the Jews because they were terrified of Mordecai. 4 Mordecai was an important man in the king’s palace. Moreover, his reputation was spreading to all the provinces, since Mordecai was becoming more and more powerful.
5 Then with their swords, the Jews attacked all their enemies, killing them, destroying them, and doing whatever they pleased to those who hated them.
18 But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth. They rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and celebration. 19 That is why the Jews who live in the villages and in the unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a holiday for feasting and celebration. They also send gifts of food to one another.
The Festival of Purim Instituted by Esther and Mordecai
20 Now, Mordecai wrote these things down and sent official letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far. 21 He established the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as days they must observe every year. 22 They were to observe them just like the days when the Jews freed themselves from their enemies. In that month their grief turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He declared that these days are to be days for feasting and celebrating and for sending gifts of food to one another, especially gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews accepted as tradition what they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them.
4 “My friends, I can guarantee that you don’t need to be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can’t do anything more. 5 I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the power to throw you into hell after killing you. I’m warning you to be afraid of him.
6 “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. 7 Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows. 8 I can guarantee that the Son of Man will acknowledge in front of God’s angels every person who acknowledges him in front of others. 9 But God’s angels will be told that I don’t know those people who tell others that they don’t know me. 10 Everyone who says something against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But the person who dishonors the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 “When you are put on trial in synagogues or in front of rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. 12 At that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say.”
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