Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 25 June 2014

am informed that Christmas is now six months away.  Not sure just what sort of response that tidbit is supposed to generate.  One of those things that is "going around", one supposes. 
At one time in my life, I was informed of something that they called "predator syndrome".  The theory being that many predatory land animals use their sense of smell extensively in locating potential prey, and, that being the case, tend to lay up and snooze when conditions are not conducive to scent.  As in, when there is rain.  Which there has been, a bunch of it, in this area for the last two weeks or so.More yesterday, more last night, more today.  Brings out the desire to sleep all day.  I didn't sleep all day, but it's not been my most productive 24-hour segment either.  No energy at all.  Dear Wife says it may also be due in part to the high blood pressure I've been experiencing lately, a condition that's had me on a BO med for the last month, to limited effect.  She says it means that heart is having to work harder, so it fatigues the whole person.  Perhaps she is right, she may well know more about it.  And she's been on BP meds for a good while now, the one pill alone has a dose more than twice that of what I'm taking.  So perhaps.  Net result is that just getting going takes a lot more energy than has normally been the case for me.
She's up and around right now.  Last week she dearly wanted bananas. So we bought a bunch.  As so often happens, the first day has a lot of banana eating.  Five days later, not so much and the remaining ones start to exhibit signs of old age.  We're pretty frugal here, on our income it's a necessity.  So she's out in the kitchen area making what she calls a butterfly cake.  Has the mashed bananas in it, and some crushed pineapple and some raisins and Lord knows what else.  Probably be good, has god stuff in it.  If you went to buy one, if it could be found, probably would cost a bunch, and be loaded with stuff we - the two of us I mean - shouldn't be eating.  She can't handle MSG at all, and most artificial colorants and preservatives have a bad effect on her as well.  So this way we know what goes in.  It works out. 
Sometimes we suspect that a lot of modern maladies are in part a result of some of the chemicals that are routinely added to a lot of the processed foods people eat.  We don't do a whole lot of that processed convenience food stuff.  In part, we can't afford it.  In part, we don't want it. 
And in part because, despite all the techie-type computer stuff and engineering work we've done, in many ways we are very much Old Style.  And I do mean old.  Both of us grew up having large kitchen gardens.  For my part, we rarely purchased things like canned vegetables and fruits: we grew them or bought the picked fruit from neighbors and friends, and put them up in canning jars and the like.  So did she.  Money was always in short supply around our houses, and in any event it was just considered normal.  I have relatives still in the more conservative Mennonite and Amish communities, and the life that they live is in many respects similar to how we both grew up.  I like hot showers and electric lights and computers, but have lived at times with none of them, and could again if I had to .  Most people can not imagine such a life, and would respond poorly if necessity forced it upon them.  Not saying I'd like it, but I've done it and could again if needed.
I have been carrying a premonition that such a condition could happen in our own land, possibly as a result of war or possibly a result of the predictable effects of the lousy policies being implemented by the current gang of rascals in Washington.  Or both.
 We shall see.
=================

The Old Testament reading for the day is chapters 4, 5, and 6 of the book of Job.

Job 4

1	Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2	If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?
3	Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4	Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
5	But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6	Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
7	Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
8	Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
9	By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
10	The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
11	The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
12	Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
13	In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
14	Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15	Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
16	It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
17	Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18	Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
19	How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
20	They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21	Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

Job 5

1	Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
2	For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
3	I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4	His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
5	Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
6	Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
7	Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8	I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9	Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
10	Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
11	To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
12	He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13	He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
14	They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15	But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16	So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
17	Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
18	For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
19	He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
20	In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21	Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
22	At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23	For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
24	And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.
25	Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
26	Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
27	Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

Job 6

1	But Job answered and said,
2	Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!
3	For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
4	For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
5	Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?
6	Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7	The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.
8	Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9	Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10	Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
11	What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
12	Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?
13	Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
14	To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
15	My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
16	Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:
17	What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18	The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
19	The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.
20	They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
21	For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
22	Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance?
23	Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
24	Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25	How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?
26	Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
27	Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
28	Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie.
29	Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
30	Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

=======================

The New Testament reading is verses 20-43 in the 7th chapter of the book of the Acts.  This is the sermon of Steven, the first deacon.  And a martyr to the faith.

Acts 7:20-43

20	In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:
21	And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22	And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23	And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24	And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25	For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26	And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27	But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28	Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29	Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30	And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
31	When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the LORD came unto him,
32	Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
33	Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34	I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35	This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36	He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37	This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38	This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
39	To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40	Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
41	And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42	Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43	Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Tuesday, 24 June, 2014

another long day.
Dear Wife is on Social Security Disability now.  After having worked, often two jobs, since she was 16,  she's now pretty limited.  Near-blindness from glaucoma, cataracts, and effects of autoimmune diseases and some of the meds she must take for them, all combine to knock the heck out of the vision.  The rheumatoid arthritis makes even walking painful and difficult.
She was supposed to be in Physical Therapy this afternoon but just did not feel up to it, and called to cancel.
Meantime, I had to make a 40-mile round trip drive this morning to take possession of a little outside table and chairs for our deck, a whole $19 purchase.  Back home and set it up.  Then I took her, niece, and grand niece down to the DMV.  We've been relocated for six months or more, but still had the old plates on car.  They expire in a few days, so it's Time.   Tried to get the new driver license, but they had to do a vision test and there was a problem with machine, so I'll do that in a few days when my new car title comes through and I go to pick it up.
Ran another errand or two, got some gas, came home.  Her foot and leg are all swollen and she's in great pain.  I made dinner, rubbed the swollen areas for a while, and we're making an early night of it.

=========================================

The Old Testament reading is chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Job.  This is one of those books that deserve a lot of attention. It gets into the issue of "why do bad things happen to good people?".  We've all probably asked that, sometimes it gets restated to "why is this happening to me?", or even "where was God when all this awful stuff is happening?".  A fair question. 

and there is a piece of music to go with it.  I like it.

Job 1

1	There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
2	There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3	He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
4	His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5	And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
6	Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
7	The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
8	And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
9	Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
10	“Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11	“But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12	And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13	Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
14	and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15	“and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16	While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17	While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18	While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
19	“and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20	Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
21	And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22	In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job 2

1	Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
2	And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
3	And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
4	Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
5	“But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
6	And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
7	So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8	And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
9	Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
10	But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11	Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
12	And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
13	And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Job 3

1	After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2	And Job said:
3	“Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’
4	“Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
5	“Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6	“That night–let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
7	“Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.
8	“Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
9	“Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,
10	“because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11	“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?
12	“Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13	“For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14	“with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
15	“or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16	“Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
17	“There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18	“There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19	“The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
20	“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21	“who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22	“who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?
23	“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24	“For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25	“For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
26	“I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

======================

The New Testament reading is verses 1-19 of chapter 7 of the Acts.  This is Steven, the first deacon, speaking.  Worth pondering.

Acts 7:1-19 

1	And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2	And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3	“and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’
4	“Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
5	“Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
6	“And God spoke to this effect–that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.
7	“‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’
8	“And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9	“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him
10	“and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
11	“Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.
12	“But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.
13	“And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.
14	“And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.
15	“And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers,
16	“and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17	“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt
18	“until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.
19	“He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 23 June 2014

weird day.  Dear Wife had a doctor appointment set for late morning.  Early morning, a bit after 8 a.m., w got a call from teh doctor office.  The doc is sick.  All appointments cancelled, hers is rescheduled for Friday morning.
Dear Wife was already up, had to be next door to "watch" the beloved grand-niece at 6:45 so mom, Wife's niece, could be out of the house and at work by 7:30.  Niece only works 2 or 3 days a week ever since having the baby, they're not quite in a position for her to quit totally, so having a loving and reliable sitter saves a bunch on child care and ensures a good loving environment.  Wife is disabled, but watching an 18-month-old is something she can do, though sometimes the Little One gets pretty active.  So I went across the back lawn, bearing another cup of coffee, and gave her the Word.  There was no dismay, none at all.
Came home and we took it easy most of the rest of the day.  I'd intended to do quite a bit of work around the place, but the changes kind of took the wind out of my sails.

=======================
The Old Testament reading is chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the book of Esther.  In Jewish circles, her name is given as Hadassah, which was her original name.  You may, if you live in areas with a large Jewish population, encounter someone known as the "Hadassah Lady", from the Women's Zionist Organization of America.  They're generally formidable individuals.  The success of Esther's involvement is still celebrated in Jewish circles as the feast of Purim.

Esther 7

1	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, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”
3	Then Queen Esther answered, “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	“For we have been sold, I and my people, 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 to do this?”
6	And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
7	And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into 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 the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on 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 Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.”
10	And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

Esther 8

1	On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.
2	And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3	Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.
4	When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther,
5	Esther rose and stood before the king. And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.
6	“For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
7	Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.
8	“But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
9	The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
10	And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud,
11	saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods,
12	on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
13	A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies.
14	So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.
15	Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16	The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
17	And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Esther 9

1	Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.
2	The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples.
3	All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
4	For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful.
5	The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
6	In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,
7	and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha
8	and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha
9	and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,
10	the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.
11	That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.
12	And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”
13	And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”
14	So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
15	The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
16	Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
17	This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.
18	But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
19	Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
20	And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
21	obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,
22	as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23	So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
24	For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.
25	But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26	Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them,
27	the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,
28	that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
29	Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.
30	Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,
31	that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.
32	The command of Queen Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

Esther 10

1	King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
2	And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3	For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

===========================

The New Testament reading is chapter 6 of the Acts.

Acts 6

1	Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
2	And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
3	“Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
4	“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5	And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
6	These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7	And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
8	And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
9	Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
10	But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
11	Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
12	And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,
13	and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,
14	“for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
15	And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.