Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for the Lord’s Help

123 I lift up my eyes to You, O You Whose throne is in the heavens. ² See, the eyes of servants look to the hand of their owner. The eyes of a woman servant look to the hand of her owner. So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He shows us loving-kindness.

³ Show loving-kindness to us, O Lord. Show loving-kindness to us. For we have had our fill of hate. ⁴ The proud have laughed at us too long. We have had more than enough of their hate.

The Song of Deborah

5 That day Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang this song: ² “The leaders led in Israel. The people were willing to help them. For this we give thanks to the Lord! ³ Hear, O kings! Listen, O rulers! I will sing to the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁴ Lord, You went out from Seir. You walked from the field of Edom. And the earth shook. Water fell from the heavens. Yes, water fell from the clouds. ⁵ The mountains shook before the Lord. Mount Sinai shook before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the wide roads were empty. Travelers walked on the side roads. ⁷ Country towns were empty. They were no more in Israel, until I, Deborah, came. I came as a mother in Israel. ⁸ New gods were chosen. Then war was in the gates. No battle-covering or sword was seen among 40,000 in Israel. ⁹ My heart is with the leaders of Israel, who were willing to help among the people. Thanks be to the Lord! ¹⁰ Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys and you who sit on rich floor coverings. Tell of it, you who travel on the road. ¹¹ They will tell of the right and good acts of the Lord at the sound of music beside the wells of water. They will tell of His right and good acts toward His towns people in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.

¹² “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Get up, Barak! Lead away the people you took in war, O son of Abinoam.

A Person Filled with Bad or Good ^(A)

⁴³ “When a demon is gone out of a man, it goes through dry places to find rest. It finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will go back into my house from which I came.’ When it goes back, it sees that it is empty. But it sees that the house has been cleaned and looks good. ⁴⁵ Then it goes out and comes back bringing with it seven demons more sinful than itself. They go in and live there. In the end that man is worse than at first. It will be like this with the sinful people of this day.”