Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Implored to Confound His Enemies.
A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.
83 O God, (A)do not remain quiet;
(B)Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
2 For behold, Your enemies (C)make an uproar,
And (D)those who hate You have [a](E)exalted themselves.
3 They (F)make shrewd plans against Your people,
And [b]conspire together against (G)Your [c]treasured ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and (H)let us wipe them out [d]as a nation,
That the (I)name of Israel be remembered no more.”
8 Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, (A)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak called (B)Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up [a](C)with him; Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber (D)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the [b]oak in (E)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera called together all his chariots, (F)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from (G)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; [c]behold, (H)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 (I)The Lord [d]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; (J)not even one was left.
17 Now Sisera fled 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 house of Heber the Kenite. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a [e]rug. 19 (K)He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a [f]bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, (L)took a tent peg and [g]seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered [h]with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
23 So (M)God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. 24 The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had [i]destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.
The Impartiality of God
2 Therefore you have (A)no excuse, [a](B)everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which (C)you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God [b]rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3 But do you suppose this, (D)O man, [c]when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of (E)the riches of His (F)kindness and (G)tolerance and (H)patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But [d]because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart (I)you are storing up wrath for yourself (J)in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 (K)who will render to each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by (L)perseverance in doing good seek for (M)glory and honor and (N)immortality, (O)eternal life; 8 but to those who are (P)selfishly ambitious and (Q)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be (R)tribulation and distress [e]for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew (S)first and also of the Greek, 10 but (T)glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew (U)first and also to the Greek. 11 For (V)there is no partiality with God.
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