Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Is Good to His People

106 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Who can put into words the great works of the Lord? Who can make known all His praise? ³ Happy are those who are faithful in being fair and who always do what is right and good!

⁴ O Lord, remember me when You show favor to Your people. Visit me also when You save them. ⁵ So I may share in the well-being of Your chosen ones. So I may share in the joy of Your nation, and be proud of Your people.

⁶ We have sinned like our fathers. We have done wrong. We have been sinful in our actions. ⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your powerful works. They did not remember how many times You showed Your loving-kindness. But they turned against You by the sea, the Red Sea. ⁸ Yet He saved them because of the honor of His name, and to make His great power known. ⁹ So He spoke sharp words to the Red Sea and it dried up. And He led them through the sea as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of those who hated them. He set them free from the hand of those who went against them. ¹¹ And the waters covered those who hated them. Not one of them was left. ¹² Then they believed His promises. They sang His praise.

Deborah and Barak

4 After Ehud died, the people of Israel sinned in the eyes of the Lord again. ² So the Lord let them be taken by Jabin king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The head of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. ³ The people of Israel cried to the Lord, for Jabin had 900 iron war-wagons. He made it very hard for the people of Israel for twenty years.

⁴ Now Lappidoth’s wife Deborah, a woman who spoke for God, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She would sit under the tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the people of Israel came to her to find out what was right or wrong. ⁶ She sent for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedeshnaphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Go to Mount Tabor. Take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will have Sisera, the head of Jabin’s army, meet you at the river Kishon. He will have his war-wagons and his many soldiers with him. But I will give him into your hand.’” 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.

Things God Gives the Christian to Fight With

¹⁰ This is the last thing I want to say: Be strong with the Lord’s strength. ¹¹ Put on the things God gives you to fight with. Then you will not fall into the traps of the devil. ¹² Our fight is not with people. It is against the leaders and the powers and the spirits of darkness in this world. It is against the demon world that works in the heavens. ¹³ Because of this, put on all the things God gives you to fight with. Then you will be able to stand in that sinful day. When it is all over, you will still be standing. ¹⁴ So stand up and do not be moved. Wear a belt of truth around your body. Wear a piece of iron over your chest which is being right with God. ¹⁵ Wear shoes on your feet which are the Good News of peace. ¹⁶ Most important of all, you need a covering of faith in front of you. This is to put out the fire-arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ The covering for your head is that you have been saved from the punishment of sin. Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.