Bible Browser

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 5

1  Give ear to my words, O Lord; ♦︎
   consider my lamentation.
2  Hearken to the voice of my crying, my King and my God, ♦︎
   for to you I make my prayer.
3  In the morning, Lord, you will hear my voice; ♦︎
   early in the morning I make my appeal to you, and look up.
4  For you are the God who takes no pleasure in wickedness; ♦︎
   no evil can dwell with you.
5  The boastful cannot stand in your sight; ♦︎
   you hate all those that work wickedness.
6  You destroy those who speak lies; ♦︎
   the bloodthirsty and deceitful the Lord will abhor.
7  But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy,
      I will come into your house; ♦︎
   I will bow down towards your holy temple in awe of you.
8  Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness,
      because of my enemies; ♦︎
   make your way straight before my face.
9  For there is no truth in their mouth,
      in their heart is destruction, ♦︎
   their throat is an open sepulchre,
      and they flatter with their tongue.
10  Punish them, O God; ♦︎
   let them fall through their own devices.
11  Because of their many transgressions cast them out, ♦︎
   for they have rebelled against you.
12  But let all who take refuge in you be glad; ♦︎
   let them sing out their joy for ever.
13  You will shelter them, ♦︎
   so that those who love your name may exult in you.
14  For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; ♦︎
   and with your favour you will defend them as with a shield.

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.

Salt and Light

13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

The Law and the Prophets

17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter,^* not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks^* one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.