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The Song of Deborah

5Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:
² ‘When locks are long in Israel,
   when the people offer themselves willingly—
   bless ^* the Lord!

³ ‘Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
   to the Lord I will sing,
   I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴ ‘Lord, when you went out from Seir,
   when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled,
   and the heavens poured,
   the clouds indeed poured water.
⁵ The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
   before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ ‘In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
   in the days of Jael, caravans ceased
   and travellers kept to the byways.
⁷ The peasantry prospered in Israel,
   they grew fat on plunder,
because you arose, Deborah,
   arose as a mother in Israel.
⁸ When new gods were chosen,
   then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
   among forty thousand in Israel?
⁹ My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
   who offered themselves willingly among the people.
   Bless the Lord.

¹⁰ ‘Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,
   you who sit on rich carpets,^*
   and you who walk by the way.
¹¹ To the sound of musicians^* at the watering-places,
   there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord,
   the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.

‘Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.

¹² ‘Awake, awake, Deborah!
   Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
   O son of Abinoam.
¹³ Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
   the people of the Lord marched down for him^* against the mighty.
¹⁴ From Ephraim they set out^* into the valley,^*
   following you, Benjamin, with your kin;
from Machir marched down the commanders,
   and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;
¹⁵ the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,
   and Issachar faithful to Barak;
   into the valley they rushed out at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
   there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁶ Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,
   to hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
   there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
   and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?
Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,
   settling down by his landings.
¹⁸ Zebulun is a people that scorned death;
   Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹ ‘The kings came, they fought;
   then fought the kings of Canaan,
at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
   they got no spoils of silver.
²⁰ The stars fought from heaven,
   from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The torrent Kishon swept them away,
   the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.
   March on, my soul, with might!

²² ‘Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs
   with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,
   curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
   to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴ ‘Most blessed of women be Jael,
   the wife of Heber the Kenite,
   of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
²⁵ He asked water and she gave him milk,
   she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
²⁶ She put her hand to the tent-peg
   and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
   she crushed his head,
   she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ He sank, he fell,
   he lay still at her feet;
at her feet he sank, he fell;
   where he sank, there he fell dead.

²⁸ ‘Out of the window she peered,
   the mother of Sisera gazed^* through the lattice:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
   Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?”
²⁹ Her wisest ladies make answer,
   indeed, she answers the question herself:
³⁰ “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—
   A girl or two for every man;
spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,
   spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,
   two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?”

³¹ ‘So perish all your enemies, O Lord!
   But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.’

And the land had rest for forty years.

Psalm 1

1  Blessed are they who have not walked
      in the counsel of the wicked, ♦︎
   nor lingered in the way of sinners,
      nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
2  Their delight is in the law of the Lord ♦︎
   and they meditate on his law day and night.
3  Like a tree planted by streams of water
      bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither, ♦︎
   whatever they do, it shall prosper.
4  As for the wicked, it is not so with them; ♦︎
   they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5  Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement, ♦︎
   nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
6  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, ♦︎
   but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Psalm 3

1  Lord, how many are my adversaries; ♦︎
   many are they who rise up against me.
2  Many are they who say to my soul, ♦︎
   ‘There is no help for you in your God.’
3  But you, Lord, are a shield about me; ♦︎
   you are my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
4  When I cry aloud to the Lord, ♦︎
   he will answer me from his holy hill;
5  I lie down and sleep and rise again, ♦︎
   because the Lord sustains me.
6  I will not be afraid of hordes of the peoples ♦︎
   that have set themselves against me all around.
7  Rise up, O Lord, and deliver me, O my God, ♦︎
   for you strike all my enemies on the cheek
      and break the teeth of the wicked.
8  Salvation belongs to the Lord: ♦︎
   may your blessing be upon your people.

Psalm 4

1  Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness; ♦︎
   you set me at liberty when I was in trouble;
      have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2  How long will you nobles dishonour my glory; ♦︎
   how long will you love vain things and seek after falsehood?
3  But know that the Lord has shown me his marvellous kindness; ♦︎
   when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.
4  Stand in awe, and sin not; ♦︎
   commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.
5  Offer the sacrifices of righteousness ♦︎
   and put your trust in the Lord.
6  There are many that say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ ♦︎
   Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.
7  You have put gladness in my heart, ♦︎
   more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.
8  In peace I will lie down and sleep, ♦︎
   for it is you Lord, only, who make me dwell in safety.

Warning to Rich Oppressors

5Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. ²Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure^* for the last days. ⁴Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, beloved,^* until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.^{* 9}Beloved,^* do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, beloved,^* take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 Above all, my beloved,^* do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

19 My brothers and sisters,^* if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s^* soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5Once while Jesus^* was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ ⁵Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.