Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
15 The sound of (C)joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous;
The (D)right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
16 The (E)right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
17 I (F)will not die, but live,
And (G)tell of the works of [b]the Lord.
18 [c]The Lord has (H)disciplined me severely,
But He has (I)not given me over to death.
17 Now Sisera fled away 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 Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a [a]rug. 19 (A)He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a [b]bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. 20 He said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, (B)took a tent peg and [c]seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. 22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered [d]with her, and behold Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
23 So (C)God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.
24 “(A)Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
25 “He asked for water and she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
26 “She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 “Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell [a]dead.
28 “Out of the window she looked and lamented,
The mother of Sisera through the [b]lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the [c]hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’
29 “Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
30 ‘(B)Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?
A maiden, two maidens for every warrior;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,
A spoil of dyed work embroidered,
Dyed work of double embroidery on the [d]neck of the spoiler?’
31 “(C)Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord;
(D)But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
And the land was undisturbed for forty years.
The Woman, Israel
12 A great (A)sign appeared (B)in heaven: (C)a woman (D)clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she *(E)cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
The Red Dragon, Satan
3 Then (F)another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red (G)dragon having (H)seven heads and (I)ten horns, and on his heads were (J)seven diadems. 4 And his tail *swept away a (K)third of the stars of heaven and (L)threw them to the earth. And the (M)dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth (N)he might devour her child.
The Male Child, Christ
5 And (O)she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to [a](P)rule all the [b]nations with a rod of iron; and her child was (Q)caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there [c]she would be nourished for (R)one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The Angel, Michael
7 And there was war in heaven, (S)Michael and his angels waging war with the (T)dragon. The dragon and (U)his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great (V)dragon was thrown down, the (W)serpent of old who is called the devil and (X)Satan, who (Y)deceives the whole [d]world; he was (Z)thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard (AA)a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the (AB)salvation, and the power, and the (AC)kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the (AD)accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they (AE)overcame him because of (AF)the blood of the Lamb and because of (AG)the word of their testimony, and they (AH)did not love their life even [e]when faced with death. 12 For this reason, (AI)rejoice, O heavens and (AJ)you who [f]dwell in them. (AK)Woe to the earth and the sea, because (AL)the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only (AM)a short time.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.