Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Deborah

4 After Ehud died, the Israelites again did things that the Lord saw were evil. ² So the Lord put them under the power of King Jabin. He was a Canaanite king who ruled in Hazor.^[a] The leader of Jabin's army was called Sisera. Sisera lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ He had 900 iron chariots for his army. He used his power to be cruel to the Israelites for 20 years. So they called out to the Lord for help.

⁴ At that time, Lappidoth's wife Deborah was leading the Israelites. She was a prophetess. ⁵ She would sit under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel to judge people's problems. That was in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites would come to her when they had arguments. She would decide who was right.

⁶ One day, Deborah told Abinoam's son Barak to come to her. He lived in Kedesh, a town in Naphtali. She said to Barak, ‘The Lord, Israel's God, has given you this command: “March to Mount Tabor with 10,000 men who belong to the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun.^{[b] 7} I will deceive Sisera, the leader of King Jabin's army. He will go to the Kishon river with his great army and all their chariots. I will put them all under your power.” ’

A song to sing as we climb.

Servants of the Lord

We must be ready for Jesus to return

5 Friends, we do not need to write anything to you about the dates and times when these things will happen. ² You know very well about how the great day of the Lord will happen. That day will surprise people very much, like when a robber comes in the night. ³ At that time, people will be saying, ‘We are safe and there is no trouble for us.’ But then, when they are not ready for it, great punishment will suddenly happen to them. It will be impossible for them to run away. Pain will suddenly come to them, like a woman who is giving birth to a baby.

⁴ But you, our Christian friends, know about these things. You are not like people who live in the dark. So when the great day of the Lord happens, it should not suddenly surprise you, like a robber might surprise you. ⁵ All of you are people who belong to the light and to the day. We who are believers do not belong to the night or to the dark. ⁶ So we must watch carefully. We should be like people who stay awake. We should not be like other people who are sleeping. ⁷ It is at night that people sleep. It is at night that people become drunk.

⁸ But we belong to the day, not to the night. So we should think clearly. We must prepare ourselves like a soldier who puts on his armour. We must continue to trust God and to love him. That will be like a metal shirt that keeps our body safe. We must also continue to hope that God will save us. That will be like a strong hat that keeps our head safe.

⁹ God did not choose us as his people so that he could be angry with us. He chose us so that he could save us because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. ¹⁰ Jesus died on our behalf so that we can live together with him. It does not matter whether we are alive or dead when he returns. We will all go to live with him. ¹¹ Because of that, you should help each other to become stronger as believers. I know that you are already doing that.

Jesus tells a story about three servants

¹⁴ Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is also like a man who began a journey. Before the master went away, he told his servants to come to him. He said to them, “Take care of all my money and all my things for me.” ¹⁵ The master gave one servant 5,000 gold coins. He gave another servant 2,000 gold coins, and to another servant he gave 1,000 gold coins. The master gave to each servant what he would be able to use well.^[a] Then he went away on his journey.

¹⁶ The servant who had received 5,000 gold coins went out immediately. He bought and sold things with the money. When he did this, he got 5,000 more gold coins. ¹⁷ The servant who had received 2,000 gold coins did the same thing. This servant got 2,000 more gold coins. ¹⁸ But the servant who had received only 1,000 gold coins did something different. He went outside and he dug a hole in the ground. He buried the money that his master had given him.

¹⁹ After a long time, the master came home.^[b] He asked the servants to come to him. He wanted to know how much money they had now. ²⁰ The servant who had received 5,000 gold coins came to his master. The servant said, “Master, you gave me 5,000 gold coins. Now I have an extra 5,000 gold coins.”

²¹ The master said to this servant, “You are a good servant and you have done really well. You were careful with a small amount of money. Now I will give you authority over many more things. I am really happy about this and I want you to be happy with me.”

²² The servant who had received 2,000 gold coins also came to his master. The servant said, “Master, you gave me 2,000 gold coins. Now I have an extra 2,000 gold coins.”

²³ The master said to this servant, “You are a good servant and you have done really well. You were careful with a small amount of money. Now I will give you authority over many more things. I am really happy about this and I want you to be happy with me.”

²⁴ The servant who had received 1,000 gold coins then came to his master. The servant said, “Master, I know what you are like. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take food from fields where you did not put any seed in the ground. You get fruit from trees that you did not plant. ²⁵ So I was afraid of you. I went and I buried your gold coins in the ground. Look! Here they are. You can have your money back again.”

²⁶ The master said to him, “You are a bad and lazy servant. You know what I am like, do you? I get food from fields where I did not put any seeds. I get fruit from trees that I did not plant. You knew all that. ²⁷ So you should have put the money into a bank. Then, when I came home, I could have received my money back from the bank, with extra money.”

²⁸ Then the master said to his other servants, “Take the 1,000 gold coins from this bad servant. Give them to the man who now has 10,000 coins. ²⁹ Some people have received good things. They will all receive even more and have lots of good things. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. ³⁰ This servant cannot work for me any longer. Take him outside and throw him into a dark place. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.” ’^[c]