Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 83

Prayer against Enemies

A song. A psalm of Asaph.^(A)

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹ “I will gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰ Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab,^(A) Moses’s father-in-law,^(B) and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim,^(C) which was near Kedesh.

¹² It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. ¹³ Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon. ¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁵ The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic^(D) before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹ He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰ Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’” ²¹ While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife, Jael, took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it into the ground, and he died.

²² When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

²³ That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴ The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.

God’s Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore, every one of you^[a](A) who judges is without excuse.^(B) For when you judge another,^(C) you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. ² Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. ³ Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴ Or do you despise the riches of his kindness,^(D) restraint,^(E) and patience,^(F) not recognizing^[b] that God’s kindness^(G) is intended to lead you to repentance? ⁵ Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath^(H) for yourself in the day of wrath,^(I) when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. ⁶ He will repay each one according to his works:^{[c](J) 7} eternal life^(K) to those who by persistence in doing good^(L) seek glory, honor,^(M) and immortality;^{(N) 8} but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking^(O) and disobey the truth^(P) while obeying unrighteousness. ⁹ There will be affliction and distress^(Q) for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;^{(R) 10} but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no favoritism with God.^(S)