Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Unfaithfulness of God’s People
106 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord,
since he is good,
for his gracious love exists forever.
2 Who can fully describe the mighty acts of the Lord
or proclaim all his praises?
3 How happy are those who enforce justice,
who live righteously all the time.
4 Remember me, Lord,
when you show favor to your people.
Visit us with your deliverance,
5 to witness the prosperity of your chosen ones,
to rejoice in your nation’s joy,
to glory in your inheritance.
6 We have sinned, along with our ancestors;
we have committed iniquity and wickedness.
7 In Egypt, our ancestors neither comprehended your awesome deeds
nor remembered your abundant gracious love.
Instead, they rebelled beside the sea, the Reed[a] Sea.
8 He delivered for the sake of his name,[b]
to make his power known.
9 He shouted at the Reed[c] Sea and it dried up;
and led them through the sea as though through a desert.
10 He delivered them from the power of their foe;
redeeming them from the power of their enemy.
11 The water overwhelmed their enemies,
so that not one of them survived.[d]
12 Then they believed his word
and sung his praise.
12 “Wake up! Wake up, Deborah!
Wake up! Wake up, Deborah!
Get up, Barak, and dispose of your captives,
you son of Abinoam!
13 Then the survivors approached the nobles;
the people of the Lord approached me in battle array.
14 Some came[a] from Ephraim
who had been harassed by[b] Amalek,
followed by Benjamin with your people.
Some commanders came[c] from Machir,
along with some from Zebulun
who carry a badge[d] of office.[e]
15 The officials of Issachar were with Deborah,
as was the tribe of Issachar and Barak.
They rushed out into the valley at his heels
along with divisions from Reuben’s army.
Great was their resolve of heart!
16 Why did you sit down among the sheepfolds?
To hear the bleating of the flocks?
Among the divisions of the army of Reuben
there was great searching of heart.
17 The tribe of Gilead remained
on the other side of the Jordan River.
As for the tribe of Dan,
why did they stay on board their ships?
The tribe of Asher sat by the seashore
and remained near its harbors.
18 The tribe of Zebulun did not worry about their lives
at the price of death;
neither did the tribe of Naphtali also
on high places of the field.[f]
19 “Kings came to fight,
then battled the kings of Canaan
at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo.
They took no silver
as the spoils of war.
20 The stars fought from heaven;
they fought against Sisera from their orbits.
21 The current[g] of the Kishon River swept them downstream,
that ancient current, the Kishon’s current!
March on strongly, my soul!
Conclusion
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God[a] would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.
18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son[b] of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.[c] We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah,[d] who is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.[e]
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