Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving to God
118 Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good;
his gracious love is eternal.
2 Let Israel now say,
“His gracious love is eternal.”
14 The Lord is my strength and protector,[a]
for he has become my deliverer.[b]
15 There’s exultation[c] for deliverance in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord is victorious![d]
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted!
The right hand of the Lord is victorious!”[e]
17 I will not die, but I will live
to recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord will discipline me severely,
but he won’t hand me over to die.
19 Open for me the righteous gates
so I may enter through them to give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate—
The righteous will enter through it.
21 I will praise you because you have answered me
and have become my deliverer.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This is from the Lord—
it is awesome in our sight.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
Heber’s Wife Jael Kills Sisera
17 Meanwhile, Sisera had escaped on foot to a tent belonging to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to greet Sisera. “Turn aside, sir!” she told him. “Turn aside to me! Don’t be afraid.” So he turned aside to her and entered her tent, where she concealed him behind a curtain.[a]
19 He asked her, “Please give me some water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” Instead, she opened a leather container of milk, gave him a drink, and then covered him up. 20 He told her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks ‘Is anybody here?’ say ‘No’.”
21 But Heber’s wife Jael grabbed a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other,[b] crept up to him quietly, and drove the tent peg right through his temple into the ground below after he had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion. That’s how[c] he died.
22 Meanwhile, as Barak continued chasing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. “Come with me,” she told him, “and I’ll show you the man you’re looking for!” So he went with her, and there was Sisera, lying dead with the tent peg still embedded in his temple! 23 That’s how God subdued Jabin, king of Canaan right in front of the Israelis that day.
24 “Blessed above all women is Jael,
wife of Heber the Kenite;
most blessed is she among women who live in tents!
25 Sisera[a] asked for water—
she gave him milk.
In a magnificent bowl she brought him yogurt![b]
26 She reached out one hand for the tent peg,
and her other[c] for the workman’s mallet.
Then she struck Sisera,
smashing his head,
shattering and piercing his temple.
27 He crumpled to the ground between her feet,
where he fell down and collapsed.
Between her feet he crumpled,
Fallen dead!
28 “Back at home,[d] out the window Sisera’s mother peered,
lamenting through the lattice.
‘Why is his chariot delayed in returning?
‘Why do the hoof beats of his chariots wait?’
29 Her wise attendants[e] find an answer for her;
in fact, she tells the same words to herself:
30 ‘They’re busy finding and dividing the war booty, aren’t they?
A girl or two for each valiant warrior,
and some dyed materials for Sisera—
perhaps dyed, embroidered war booty—
or some detailed embroidery for my neck
as the booty of war!
31 “May all of your enemies perish like this, Lord!
But may those who love him be
like the ascending sun in its strength!”
Then the land enjoyed quiet for 40 years.
The Vision of a Woman Dressed with the Sun
12 A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a victor’s crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out from her labor pains, the agony of giving birth.
The Vision of the Red Dragon
3 Then another sign appeared in the sky: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and knocked them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule[a] all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
The Vision of War in Heaven
7 Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels fought back. 8 But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The huge dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, along with its angels.
The Vision of the Cry of Victory
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,
“Now the salvation, the power,
the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah[b] have come.
For the one who accuses our brothers,
who accuses them day and night
in the presence of our God,
has been thrown out.
11 Our brothers[c] conquered him by the blood of the lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to their lives
even in the face of death.
12 So be glad, heavens, and those who live in them!
How terrible it is for the earth and the sea,
because the Devil has come down to you, filled with rage,
knowing that his time is short!”
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.