SUNDAY BETWEEN 25 SEPTEMBER
AND 1 OCTOBER YEAR B
PROPER 21
TRACK 1
FIRST READING Esther 7.1-6, 9-10; 9.20-22
A reading from the book of Esther.
1 The king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
2 On 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.'
3 Then 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.
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 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 presumed to do this?'
6 Esther said, 'A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!'
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.
9 Then 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.'
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared
for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
20 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 enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth
day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month,
year by year,
22 as the days on which the Jews gained 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 presents to the poor.
PSALM Psalm 124
RR Our help is in the name of the Lord [the maker of heaven
and earth].
1 If the Lord had not been on our side, let Israel now
say;
2 If the Lord had not been on our side, when enemies
rose up against us;
3 Then would they have swallowed us up alive in their
fierce anger towards us; RR
4 Then would the waters have overwhelmed us and the torrent
gone over us;
5 Then would the raging waters have gone right over us.
6 Blessèd be the Lord! he has not given us over
to be a prey for their teeth. RR
7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler;
the snare is broken and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven
and earth. RR
Or TRACK 2
FIRST READING Numbers 11.4-6, 10-16, 24-29
A reading from the book of Numbers.
4 The rabble among the people had a strong craving; and
the Israelites also wept again, and said, 'If only we had meat
to eat!
5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing,
the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;
6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing
at all but this manna to look at.'
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families,
all at the entrances of their tents. Then the LORD became very
angry, and Moses was displeased.
11 So Moses said to the LORD, 'Why have you treated your
servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that
you lay the burden of all this people on me?
12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to
them, that you should say to me, "Carry them in your bosom,
as a nurse carries a sucking child," to the land that you
promised on oath to their ancestors?
13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?
For they come weeping to me and say, "Give us meat to eat!"
14 I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they
are too heavy for me.
15 If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me
to death at once - if I have found favour in your sight - and
do not let me see my misery.'
16 So the LORD said to Moses, 'Gather for me seventy of
the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people
and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and
have them take their place there with you.'
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of
the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed
them all around the tent.
25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him,
and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the
seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied.
But they did not do so again.
26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and
the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were
among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent,
and so they prophesied in the camp.
27 And a young man ran and told Moses, 'Eldad and Medad
are prophesying in the camp.'
28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one
of his chosen men, said, 'My lord Moses, stop them!'
29 But Moses said to him, 'Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD
would put his spirit on them!'
PSALM Psalm 19.7-14
RR The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.
8 The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the eyes.
RR
9 The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever;
the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, more than much
fine gold, sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb. RR
11 By them also is your servant enlightened, and in keeping
them there is great reward.
12 Who can tell how often he offends? Cleanse me from
my secret faults.
13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not get dominion over me; then shall I be whole and sound,
and innocent of a great offence. RR
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer. RR
SECOND READING James 5.13-20
A reading from the letter of James.
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are
any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders
of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with
oil in the name of the Lord.
15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be
forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray
for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the
righteous is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently
that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it
did not rain on the earth.
18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and
the earth yielded its harvest.
19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders
from the truth and is brought back by another,
20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from
wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover
a multitude of sins.
GOSPEL Mark 9.38-50
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
After Jesus had finished teaching the disciples,
38 John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting
out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he
was not following us.'
39 But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him; for no one who does
a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak
evil of me.
40 Whoever is not against us is for us.
41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water
to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means
lose the reward.
42 If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these
little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a
great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown
into the sea.
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it
is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands
and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off;
it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet
and to be thrown into hell.
47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out;
it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye
than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,
48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never
quenched.
49 For everyone will be salted with fire.
50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how
can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with
one another.'
