Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Thanksgiving for Victory
118 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 Let the people of Israel say,
“His love continues forever.”
14 The Lord gives me strength and a song.
He has saved me.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
come from the tents of those who do right:
“The Lord has done powerful things.”
16 The power of the Lord has won the victory;
with his power the Lord has done mighty things.
17 I will not die, but live,
and I will tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has taught me a hard lesson,
but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the Temple gates.
Then I will come in and thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
only those who are good may enter through it.
21 Lord, I thank you for answering me.
You have saved me.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
23 The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad today!
17 But Sisera himself ran away to the tent where Jael lived. She was the wife of Heber, one of the Kenite family groups. Heber’s family was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor. 18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come into my tent, master! Come in. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera went into Jael’s tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 Sisera said to Jael, “I am thirsty. Please give me some water to drink.” So she opened a leather bag of milk and gave him a drink. Then she covered him up.
20 He said to her, “Go stand at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and a hammer and quietly went to Sisera. Since he was very tired, he was in a deep sleep. She hammered the tent peg through the side of Sisera’s head and into the ground. And so Sisera died.
22 At that very moment Barak came by Jael’s tent, chasing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, “Come. I will show you the man you are looking for.” So Barak entered her tent, and there Sisera lay dead, with the tent peg in his head.
23 On that day God defeated Jabin king of Canaan in the sight of Israel.
24 “May Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite,
be blessed above all women who live in tents.
25 Sisera asked for water,
but Jael gave him milk.
In a bowl fit for a ruler,
she brought him cream.
26 Jael reached out and took the tent peg.
Her right hand reached for the workman’s hammer.
She hit Sisera! She smashed his head!
She crushed and pierced the side of his head!
27 At Jael’s feet he sank.
He fell, and he lay there.
At her feet he sank. He fell.
Where Sisera sank, there he fell, dead!
28 “Sisera’s mother looked out through the window.
She looked through the curtains and cried out,
‘Why is Sisera’s chariot so late in coming?
Why are sounds of his chariots’ horses delayed?’
29 The wisest of her servant ladies answer her,
and Sisera’s mother says to herself,
30 ‘Surely they are robbing the people they defeated!
Surely they are dividing those things among themselves!
Each soldier is given a girl or two.
Maybe Sisera is taking pieces of dyed cloth.
Maybe they are even taking
pieces of dyed, embroidered cloth for the necks of the victors!’
31 “Let all your enemies die this way, Lord!
But let all the people who love you
be as strong as the rising sun!”
Then there was peace in the land for forty years.
The Woman and the Dragon
12 And then a great wonder appeared in heaven: A woman was clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars was on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out with pain, because she was about to give birth. 3 Then another wonder appeared in heaven: There was a giant red dragon with seven heads and seven crowns on each head. He also had ten horns. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth. He stood in front of the woman who was ready to give birth so he could eat her baby as soon as it was born. 5 Then the woman gave birth to a son who will rule all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was taken up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman ran away into the desert to a place God prepared for her where she would be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
7 Then there was a war in heaven. Michael[a] and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But the dragon was not strong enough, and he and his angels lost their place in heaven. 9 The giant dragon was thrown down out of heaven. (He is that old snake called the devil or Satan, who tricks the whole world.) The dragon with his angels was thrown down to the earth.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:
“The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ have now come.
The accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accused them day and night before our God,
has been thrown down.
11 And our brothers and sisters defeated him
by the blood of the Lamb’s death
and by the message they preached.
They did not love their lives so much
that they were afraid of death.
12 So rejoice, you heavens
and all who live there!
But it will be terrible for the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you!
He is filled with anger,
because he knows he does not have much time.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.