Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This psalm is a song that Asaph wrote.

Israel's enemies

⁸ Barak said to Deborah, ‘I will go if you will come with me. But if you do not agree to go, I will not go either.’ ⁹ Deborah said, ‘Yes, I will go with you. But you will not receive honour for the battle. Instead, the Lord will put Sisera under the power of a woman.’

So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak told the men from Zebulun and Naphtali to go with him to Kedesh. 10,000 men came to follow him. Deborah also went with him.

¹¹ A certain Kenite man called Heber, did not live with the other Kenites. They were descendants of Hobab, the father of Moses' wife. Heber was living in a tent beside the big tree in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.

¹² Sisera heard news that Abinoam's son Barak had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³ So he gave a command to all his soldiers. He told them to go with him from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon river. They had 900 iron chariots. ¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Get ready! This is the day that the Lord will put Sisera under your power! The Lord will lead you into battle!’

So Barak led his 10,000 soldiers down from Mount Tabor. ¹⁵ When they started to attack, the Lord caused Sisera and all his army with their chariots to have great trouble. The Israelites chased them with their swords. Sisera jumped off his chariot and he ran away. ¹⁶ Barak and his soldiers chased after Sisera's army and their chariots. They chased them to Harosheth Haggoyim. They killed Sisera's whole army. Not one of their soldiers was still alive!

¹⁷ Sisera himself ran to hide in the tent of Heber's wife, Jael. He did that because King Jabin of Hazor had agreed to be friends with Heber's family. ¹⁸ Jael came out of her tent to say ‘hello’ to Sisera. She said to him, ‘Please come into my tent, sir. You can rest safely here. Do not be afraid.’ So Sisera went into her tent to rest. Jael put a cloth over him. ¹⁹ Sisera said to her, ‘I am thirsty. Please give me some water to drink.’ She gave him some milk from a leather bottle. Then she covered him again with the cloth. ²⁰ Sisera said to her, ‘Stand at the door of your tent and watch. If someone comes to ask if anyone is here, say, “No.” ’

²¹ But Heber's wife Jael got a tent peg and a hammer.^[a] Sisera was very tired and he was asleep. Jael used the hammer to hit the peg into the side of Sisera's head. The peg went through his head into the ground. Sisera died. ²² Barak had been chasing Sisera. Jael went out of her tent to say ‘hello’ to him. She said to Barak, ‘Come here! I will show you the man that you are looking for.’ Barak went with her into the tent. He saw Sisera there. He was lying on the ground and he was dead. Barak saw the peg that had gone through Sisera's head.

²³ On that day, God caused King Jabin of Canaan to be very ashamed because the Israelites had won against his army. ²⁴ From that time, the Israelite army became stronger, and King Jabin became weaker. Finally, the Israelites destroyed him.

God judges all people in a right way

2 So I say this to each one of you: Do not judge other people. If you decide that someone else has done a bad thing, remember that you also do the same bad things. You are really saying that God should punish you also! When you judge someone, God will not punish them and then forgive you. ² When God judges people, he does it in a way that is right and fair. He punishes people who do those kind of bad things.

³ I ask each of you again: ‘Do you speak against people who do bad things, but you do those same bad things yourself?’ Then God will certainly punish you and you will not go free. ⁴ Remember that God is very kind and patient with us. He waits a long time before he punishes us. Do you not think that that is important? You should understand that God is giving you a chance to change. He waits patiently, so that you may turn away from wrong things.

⁵ But you refuse to change the way that you live. You are not sorry about the wrong things that you have done. As a result, you cause God to become even angrier with you. So he will punish you even more on the day when he will judge everyone. On that day, he will show how angry he is against people who do bad things. Everyone will know that he judges people in a right way. ⁶ He will give to each person what they ought to have because of the things that they have done. ⁷ Some people continue patiently to do good things. They want to do what is right so that God will praise them. They want to live the kind of life which death will not spoil. God will cause people like that to live with him always. ⁸ But other people think only about themselves. They refuse to obey God's true message. Instead, they continue to do things that are wrong. God will be very angry with people like that and he will punish them. ⁹ God will punish everyone who does bad things. He will do that first to the Jews, and he will do it also to the Gentiles. There will be much trouble and pain for every person who does bad things. ¹⁰ But God will praise every person who does good things. He will make them great and they will have peace in their minds. He will do that first for the Jews, and he will do it also for the Gentiles. ¹¹ God is always fair when he judges people, whoever they are.