August 24

Luke 20:9-19

[9] And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. [10] When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. [11] And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. [12] And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. [13] Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ [14] But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ [15] And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? [16] He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” [17] But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: 

    “‘The stone that the builders rejected

        has become the cornerstone’?

    [18] Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

[19] The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

Philemon 1:1-11

[1] Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, 

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker  [2] and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

[3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[4] I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, [5] because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, [6] and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. [7] For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

[8] Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, [9] yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—[10] I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. [11] (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Proverbs 17:1-14

    [1] Better is a dry morsel with quiet

        than a house full of feasting with strife. 

    [2] 

    A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully

        and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers. 

    [3] 

    The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,

        and the LORD tests hearts. 

    [4] 

    An evildoer listens to wicked lips,

        and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. 

    [5] 

    Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;

        he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. 

    [6] 

    Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,

        and the glory of children is their fathers. 

    [7] 

    Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;

        still less is false speech to a prince. 

    [8] 

    A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it;

        wherever he turns he prospers. 

    [9] 

    Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

        but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. 

    [10] 

    A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding

        than a hundred blows into a fool. 

    [11] 

    An evil man seeks only rebellion,

        and a cruel messenger will be sent against him. 

    [12] 

    Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs

        rather than a fool in his folly. 

    [13] 

    If anyone returns evil for good,

        evil will not depart from his house. 

    [14] 

    The beginning of strife is like letting out water,

        so quit before the quarrel breaks out.

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.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” [10] 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, Esther rose and stood before the king. [5] 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.