Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Israel

83 O God, do not keep quiet. Do not be quiet, O God, and do not hold Your peace. ² For, look, those who hate You are making much noise. Those who fight against You have honored themselves. ³ They make bad plans against Your people. They plan against those You care for. ⁴ They say, “Come, let us destroy them as a nation. Let the name of Israel be remembered no longer.”

⁹ Do to them as You did to Midian, and to Sisera and Jabin at the river of Kishon. ¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor. They were spread over the field.

¹⁷ Let them be ashamed and afraid forever. Let them be put to shame and lost. ¹⁸ Then they may know that You alone, Whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

⁸ Then Barak said to her, “I will go if you go with me. But if you do not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹ And she said, “For sure I will go with you. But the honor will not be yours as you go on your way. For the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to come to Kedesh. He went up with 10,000 men. And Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had gone away from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses. He had put up his tent as far away as the big tree in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.

¹² They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera gathered together all his 900 iron war-wagons. He gathered together all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, “Get up! For this is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. See, the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and 10,000 men followed him. ¹⁵ The Lord brought trouble upon Sisera and all his war-wagons and all his army in front of Barak with the sword. Sisera got down from his war-wagon and ran away on foot. ¹⁶ But Barak went after the war-wagons and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim. All of Sisera’s army fell by the sword. Not one was left.

¹⁷ Sisera ran 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 family of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to meet Sisera, saying, “Come in, my lord. Come in to me. Do not be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she put a cover over him. ¹⁹ He said to her, “Give me a little water to drink. For I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin bag of milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him. ²⁰ He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there anyone here?’ you say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But Heber’s wife Jael took a big tent nail in her hand and a tool to hit it with. Because Sisera was very tired, he went into a deep sleep. She went to him in secret and hit the big nail into the side of his head. It went through and into the ground. So he died. ²² As Barak came after Sisera, Jael came out to meet him. She said to him, “Come. I will show you the man you are looking for.” So Barak went in with her, and he saw Sisera lying dead with the big tent nail in his head.

²³ God put Jabin the king of Canaan under the power of the people of Israel on that day. ²⁴ The people of Israel made it harder and harder for Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.

2 So you can say nothing because you are guilty when you say someone else is guilty. While you say someone is guilty, you are doing the same things he does. ² We know that God will say those who do such things are guilty. ³ Do you think God will punish others for doing wrong and let you keep sinning? ⁴ Do you forget about His loving-kindness to you? Do you forget how long He is waiting for you? You know that God is kind. He is trying to get you to be sorry for your sins and turn from them. ⁵ Because you are not sorry for your sins and will not turn from them, you will be punished even more on the day of God’s anger. God will be right in saying you are guilty. ⁶ He will give to every man what he should get for the things he has done. ⁷ Those who keep on doing good and are looking for His greatness and honor will receive life that lasts forever. ⁸ Those who love only themselves and do not obey the truth, but do what is wrong, will be punished by God. His anger will be on them. ⁹ Every Jew and every person who is not a Jew who sins will suffer and have great sorrow. ¹⁰ But God will give His greatness and honor and peace to all those who obey the truth. Both Jews and those who are not Jews will receive this. ¹¹ God does not show favor to one man more than to another.