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Psalm 138

1  I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; ♦︎
   before the gods will I sing praise to you.
2  I will bow down towards your holy temple and praise your name,
      because of your love and faithfulness; ♦︎
   for you have glorified your name
      and your word above all things.
3  In the day that I called to you, you answered me; ♦︎
   you put new strength in my soul.
4  All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, ♦︎
   for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5  They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, ♦︎
   that great is the glory of the Lord.
6  Though the Lord be high, he watches over the lowly; ♦︎
   as for the proud, he regards them from afar.
7  Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
      you will preserve me; ♦︎
   you will stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies;
      your right hand will save me.
8  The Lord shall make good his purpose for me; ♦︎
   your loving-kindness, O Lord, endures for ever;
      forsake not the work of your hands.

Haman’s Downfall and Mordecai’s Advancement

14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 7¹So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. ²On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.’ ³Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have won your favour, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. ⁴For 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 held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.’^{* 5}Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?’ ⁶Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. ⁷The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to destroy him. ⁸When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?’ As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, ‘Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.’ And the king said, ‘Hang him on that.’ ¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.

Commendation of Titus

16 But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have. ¹⁷For he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you of his own accord. ¹⁸With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming of the good news;^{* 19}and not only that, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this generous undertaking^* for the glory of the Lord himself^* and to show our goodwill. ²⁰We intend that no one should blame us about this generous gift that we are administering, ²¹for we intend to do what is right not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of others. ²²And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found eager in many matters, but who is now more eager than ever because of his great confidence in you. ²³As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker in your service; as for our brothers, they are messengers^* of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴Therefore, openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.

The Collection for Christians at Jerusalem

9Now it is not necessary for me to write to you about the ministry to the saints, ²for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be; ⁴otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—in this undertaking.^{* 5}So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.