Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents. Of David.

7 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. ² And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, ^(A)“What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? ^(B)Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” ³ Then Queen Esther answered, ^(C)“If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. ^4 (D)For we have been sold, I and my people, ^(E)to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” ⁵ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared^[a] to do this?” ⁶ And Esther said, ^(F)“A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷ And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into ^(G)the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. ⁸ And the king returned from ^(H)the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on ^(I)the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. ⁹ Then ^(J)Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, ^(K)the gallows^[b] that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, ^(L)whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits^[c] high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” ^10 (M)So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. ^(N)Then the wrath of the king abated.

Vision of the Son of Man

⁹ I, John, your brother and ^(A)partner in ^(B)the tribulation and ^(C)the kingdom and ^(D)the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos ^(E)on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ^10 (F)I was in the Spirit ^(G)on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(H)like a trumpet ¹¹ saying, ^(I)“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw ^(J)seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands ^(K)one like ^(L)a son of man, ^(M)clothed with a long robe and ^(N)with a golden sash around his chest. ^14 (O)The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. ^(P)His eyes were like a flame of fire, ^15 (Q)his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and ^(R)his voice was like the roar of many waters. ^16 (S)In his right hand he held seven stars, ^(T)from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and ^(U)his face was like the sun shining ^(V)in full strength.

^17 (W)When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But ^(X)he laid his right hand on me, ^(Y)saying, “Fear not, ^(Z)I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. ^(AA)I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and ^(AB)I have the keys of Death and Hades. ^19 (AC)Write therefore ^(AD)the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and ^(AE)the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and ^(AF)the seven lampstands are the seven churches.