5 Then sang Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

² For the leaders who took the lead in Israel, for the people who offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!

³ Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; I will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴ Lord, when You went forth out of Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens also dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water.

⁵ The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, yes, yonder Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ After the days of Shamgar son of Anath, after the days of Jael [meaning here Ehud] the caravans ceased, travelers walked through byways.

⁷ The villages were unoccupied and rulers ceased in Israel until ^[a]you arose—you, Deborah, arose—a mother in Israel.

¹² And it was told King David, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing;

¹³ And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.

¹⁴ And David danced before the Lord with all his might, clad in a linen ephod [a priest’s upper garment].

¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter [David’s wife], looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name [and presence] of the Lord of hosts,

¹⁹ And distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, each to his house.

²⁰ Then David returned to bless his household. And [his wife] Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who stripped himself of his kingly robes and uncovered himself in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the worthless fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!

²¹ David said to Michal, It was before the Lord, Who chose me above your father and all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord. Therefore will I make merry [in pure enjoyment] before the Lord.

²² I will be still more lightly esteemed than this, and will humble and lower myself in my own sight [and yours]. But by the maids you mentioned, I will be held in honor.

²³ And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

¹³ Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [^[a]to save, sanctify, and raise it again].

¹⁴ And God both raised the Lord to life and will also raise us up by His power.

¹⁵ Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ (the Messiah)? Am I therefore to take the parts of Christ and make [them] parts of a prostitute? Never! Never!

¹⁶ Or do you not know and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? The two, it is written, shall become one flesh.^(A)

¹⁷ But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.

¹⁸ Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,

²⁰ You were bought with a price [purchased with a ^[b]preciousness and paid for, ^[c]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

12 And a great sign (wonder)—[warning of future events of ominous significance] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crownlike garland (tiara) of twelve stars on her head.

² She was pregnant and she cried out in her birth pangs, in the anguish of her delivery.

³ Then another ominous sign (wonder) was seen in heaven: Behold, a huge, fiery-red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven kingly crowns (diadems) upon his heads.^(A)

⁴ His tail swept [across the sky] and dragged down a third of the stars and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stationed himself in front of the woman who was about to be delivered, so that he might devour her child as soon as she brought it forth.^(B)

⁵ And she brought forth a male Child, One Who is destined to shepherd (rule) all the nations with an iron staff (scepter), and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.^(C)

⁶ And the woman [herself] fled into the desert (wilderness), where she has a retreat prepared [for her] by God, in which she is to be fed and kept safe for 1,260 days (42 months; three and one-half years).

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels went forth to battle with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

⁸ But they were defeated, and there was no room found for them in heaven any longer.

⁹ And the huge dragon was cast down and out—that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.^(D)

¹⁰ Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, Now it has come—the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out!^(E)

¹¹ And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].

¹² Therefore be glad (exult), O heavens and you that dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in fierce anger (fury), because he knows that he has [only] a short time [left]!^(F)

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male Child.

¹⁴ But the woman was supplied with the two wings of a giant eagle, so that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert (wilderness), to the retreat where she is to be kept safe and fed for a time, and times, and half a time (three and one-half years, or 1,260 days).^(G)

¹⁵ Then out of his mouth the serpent spouted forth water like a flood after the woman, that she might be carried off with the torrent.

¹⁶ But the earth came to the rescue of the woman, and the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up the stream of water which the dragon had spouted from his mouth.

¹⁷ So then the dragon was furious (enraged) at the woman, and he went away to wage war on the remainder of her descendants—[on those] who obey God’s commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ [and adhere to it and ^[a]bear witness to Him].