Daily Reading for Thursday, February 21st, 2013

Reading 1, Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25

¹² The king said to Queen Esther, 'In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed five hundred men and also the ten sons of Haman. What must they have done in the other provinces of the realm? Tell me your request; I grant it to you. Tell me what else you would like; it is yours for the asking.'

¹⁴ Whereupon, the king having given the order, the edict was promulgated in Susa and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.

¹⁵ Thus the Jews of Susa reassembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men in the city. But they took no plunder.

¹⁶ The other Jews who lived in the king's provinces also assembled to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies. They slaughtered seventy-five thousand of their opponents. But they took no plunder.

²³ Once having begun, the Jews continued observing these practices, Mordecai having written them an account

²⁴ of how Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the persecutor of all the Jews, had plotted their destruction and had cast the pur, that is, the lot, for their overthrow and ruin;

²⁵ but how, when he went back to the king to ask him to order the hanging of Mordecai, the wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews recoiled on his own head, and both he and his sons were hanged on the gallows;

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 7-8

¹ [Of David] I thank you, Yahweh, with all my heart, for you have listened to the cry I uttered. In the presence of angels I sing to you,

² I bow down before your holy Temple. I praise your name for your faithful love and your constancy; your promises surpass even your fame.

³ You heard me on the day when I called, and you gave new strength to my heart.

⁷ Though I live surrounded by trouble you give me life -- to my enemies' fury! You stretch out your right hand and save me,

⁸ Yahweh will do all things for me. Yahweh, your faithful love endures for ever, do not abandon what you have made.