Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
(A)he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
(B)“The right hand of the Lord (C)does valiantly,
16 the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord (D)does valiantly!”
17 (E)I shall not die, but I shall live,
and (F)recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has (G)disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 (H)Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
(I)the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that (J)you have answered me
(K)and have become my salvation.
22 (L)The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[a]
23 This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
17 But Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened (A)a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the opening of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.
23 (B)So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel.
24 “Most blessed of women be (A)Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25 (B)He asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
26 (C)She sent her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen's mallet;
she struck Sisera;
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 Between her feet
he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.
28 (D)“Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through (E)the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
29 Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30 ‘Have they not found and (F)divided the spoil?—
A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’
31 (G)“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
But your friends be (H)like the sun (I)as he rises in his might.”
(J)And the land had rest for forty years.
The Woman and the Dragon
12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman (A)clothed with (B)the sun, with (C)the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and (D)was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great (E)red dragon, (F)with seven heads and (G)ten horns, and on his heads (H)seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down (I)a third of the stars of heaven and (J)cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child (K)he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, (L)one who is to rule[a] all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was (M)caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for (N)1,260 days.
Satan Thrown Down to Earth
7 Now war arose in heaven, (O)Michael and (P)his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And (Q)the great dragon was thrown down, (R)that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, (S)the deceiver of the whole world—(T)he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now (U)the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[b] has been thrown down, (V)who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And (W)they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for (X)they loved not their lives (Y)even unto death. 12 Therefore, (Z)rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But (AA)woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because (AB)he knows that his time is short!”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.