Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good because his mercy endures for ever.

² Let Israel now say that his mercy endures for ever.

¹⁴ JAH is my strength and song and is become my saving health.

¹⁵ The voice of singing and saving health is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

¹⁶ The right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.

¹⁷ I shall not die, but live and declare the works of JAH.

¹⁸ JAH has chastened me sore, but he has not given me over unto death.

¹⁹ ¶ Open unto me the gates of righteousness; I will go in through them; I will praise JAH.

²⁰ This gate is of the LORD; the righteous shall enter in.

²¹ I will praise thee; for thou hast heard me and art become my saving health.

²² The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.

²³ This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

¹⁷ ¶ And Sisera fled 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 And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a thick coverlet.

¹⁹ And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him to drink and covered him again.

²⁰ Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and if anyone should come and enquire of thee and say, Is there anyone here? Thou shalt say, No.

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took the tent stake, and putting a hammer in her hand, went softly unto him and smote the stake into his temples and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

²² And as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he entered into where she was, behold, Sisera lay dead with the stake through his temples.

²³ So God subjected on that day Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel.

²⁴ ¶ Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth cream in a lordly dish.

²⁶ She put her hand to the stake, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer, and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸ The mother of Sisera looked out the window and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots tarry?

²⁹ Her wise princesses answered her; and she even answered to herself,

³⁰ Have they not found spoil and are dividing it? To each man a damsel or two; to Sisera a spoil of different colours, a spoil of different colours of needlework, of different colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of those that take the spoil?

³¹ So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD, but let those that love thee be as the sun when he rises in all his might. And the land had rest forty years.

12 ¶ And there appeared a great sign in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;

² and she being with child cried out, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

³ And there appeared another sign in the heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

⁴ And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.

⁵ And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all the Gentiles with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne.

⁶ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.

⁷ And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

⁸ and did not prevail; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

⁹ And the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old, who is called Devil and the Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and virtue and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹ And they have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

¹² ¶ Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.