Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.(A)
15 There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!(B)
16 The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!”(C)
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.(D)
18 The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.(E)
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.(F)
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous will enter through it.(G)
21 I will give thanks to You
because You have answered me
and have become my salvation.(H)
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.(I)
23 This came from the Lord;
it is wonderful in our eyes.(J)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.(K)
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. 20 Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21 While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.
22 When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!
23 That day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.
24 Jael is most blessed of women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him curdled milk(A) in a majestic bowl.
26 She reached for a tent peg,
her right hand, for a workman’s mallet.
Then she hammered Sisera—
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down at[a] her feet;
he collapsed, he fell at her feet;
where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.
28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window;
she peered through the lattice, crying out:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”[b]
29 Her wisest princesses answer her;
she even answers herself:[c]
30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—
a girl or two for each warrior,
the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,
the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”[d]
31 Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.[e]
But may those who love Him
be like the rising of the sun in its strength.
And the land was peaceful 40 years.
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
12 A great sign[a] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.(A) 2 She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign[b] appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns,(B) and on his heads were seven diadems.[c] 4 His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.(C) And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth he might devour her child. 5 But she gave birth to a Son—a male who is going to shepherd[d] all nations with an iron scepter(D)—and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God,(E) to be fed there[e] for 1,260 days.(F)
The Dragon Thrown Out of Heaven
7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael(G) and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8 but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent,(H) who is called the Devil[f] and Satan,[g](I) the one who deceives the whole world.(J) He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Messiah
have now come,
because the accuser(K) of our brothers
has been thrown out:
the one who accuses them
before our God day and night.
11 They conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not love their lives
in the face of death.(L)
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the earth and the sea,
for the Devil has come down to you
with great fury,
because he knows he has a short time.
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