Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Shouts of joy(C) and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand(D) has done mighty things!(E)
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die(F) but live,
and will proclaim(G) what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened(H) me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.(I)
19 Open for me the gates(J) of the righteous;
I will enter(K) and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord(L)
through which the righteous may enter.(M)
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;(N)
you have become my salvation.(O)
17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael,(A) the wife of Heber the Kenite,(B) because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor(C) and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael(D) went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk,(E) gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael,(F) Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep,(G) exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.(H)
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael(I) went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.(J)
23 On that day God subdued(K) Jabin(L) king of Canaan before the Israelites.
24 “Most blessed of women(A) be Jael,(B)
the wife of Heber the Kenite,(C)
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;(D)
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.(E)
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead(F).
28 “Through the window(G) peered Sisera’s mother;
behind the lattice she cried out,(H)
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;
indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:(I)
a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments(J) for my neck—
all this as plunder?(K)’
31 “So may all your enemies perish,(L) Lord!
But may all who love you be like the sun(M)
when it rises in its strength.”(N)
Then the land had peace(O) forty years.
The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign(A) appeared in heaven:(B) a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars(C) on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain(D) as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven:(E) an enormous red dragon(F) with seven heads(G) and ten horns(H) and seven crowns(I) on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third(J) of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.(K) The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child(L) the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a](M) And her child was snatched up(N) to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.(O)
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael(P) and his angels fought against the dragon,(Q) and the dragon and his angels(R) fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent(S) called the devil,(T) or Satan,(U) who leads the whole world astray.(V) He was hurled to the earth,(W) and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven(X) say:
“Now have come the salvation(Y) and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,(Z)
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over(AA) him
by the blood of the Lamb(AB)
and by the word of their testimony;(AC)
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.(AD)
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens(AE)
and you who dwell in them!
But woe(AF) to the earth and the sea,(AG)
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.