Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song or Psalm of Asaph.

¹ ¶ Do not keep silence, O God; do not hold thy peace, and do not be still, O God.

² For, behold, thine enemies make a tumult, and those that hate thee have lifted up their head.

³ They have taken prudent counsel in secret against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones.

⁴ They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a people that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

⁹ ¶ Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison,

¹⁰ who perished at Endor; they became as dung for the earth.

¹⁷ Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; let them be put to shame and perish

¹⁸ That they may know that thou, whose name alone is LORD, art the most high over all the earth.

⁸ And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

⁹ And she said, I will surely go with thee, but thy honour shall not be in the way that thou goest; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰ ¶ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with ten thousand men on foot, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber, the Kenite, of the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

¹² And the news came unto Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³ And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said unto Barak, Rise up, for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into thy hands. Is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.

¹⁵ And the LORD broke Sisera and all his chariots and all his host with the edge of the sword before Barak so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on foot.

¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host unto Harosheth of the Gentiles, and all the camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.

¹⁷ ¶ And Sisera fled 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 And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a thick coverlet.

¹⁹ And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him to drink and covered him again.

²⁰ Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and if anyone should come and enquire of thee and say, Is there anyone here? Thou shalt say, No.

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took the tent stake, and putting a hammer in her hand, went softly unto him and smote the stake into his temples and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

²² And as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he entered into where she was, behold, Sisera lay dead with the stake through his temples.

²³ So God subjected on that day Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And the hand of the sons of Israel began to prosper and to prevail against Jabin, the king of Canaan until they had destroyed him.

2 ¶ Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest; for in that which thou dost judge another, thou dost condemn thyself; for thou that judgest others doest the same things.

² For we are sure that the judgment of God is according to the truth against those who do such things.

³ And dost thou think this, O man, that judgest those who do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

⁴ Or dost thou despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, ignoring that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance?

⁵ But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

⁶ who will render to everyone according to his deeds:

⁷ to those who persevered in well doing, glory and honour and incorruption, to those who seek eternal life;

⁸ but unto those that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but are persuaded by unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.

⁹ Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every human soul that does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek;

¹⁰ but glory, honour, and peace to everyone that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

¹¹ For there is no respect of persons with God.