Deborah

4 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, now that Ehud was dead.²So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim.³Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.⁵She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.⁶She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.⁷I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

⁸Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹“Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.¹⁰There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

¹²When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,¹³Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.¹⁵At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.¹⁷Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

¹⁹“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

²⁰“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

²¹But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

²²Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.

²³On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.²⁴And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

The Song of Deborah

5 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

²“When the princes in Israel take the lead,
    when the people willingly offer themselves—
    praise the LORD!

³“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
    I, even I, will sing to the LORD;
    I will praise the LORD, the God of Israel, in song.

⁴“When you, LORD, went out from Seir,
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.
⁵The 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, the highways were abandoned;
    travelers took to winding paths.
⁷Villagers in Israel would not fight;
    they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸God chose new leaders
    when war came to the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was seen
    among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹My heart is with Israel’s princes,
    with the willing volunteers among the people.
    Praise the LORD!

¹⁰“You who ride on white donkeys,
    sitting on your saddle blankets,
    and you who walk along the road,
consider¹¹the voice of the singers at the watering places.
    They recite the victories of the LORD,
    the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the LORD
    went down to the city gates.
¹²‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
    Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!
    Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam.’

¹³“The remnant of the nobles came down;
    the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.
¹⁴Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
    Benjamin was with the people who followed you.
From Makir captains came down,
    from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.
¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
    yes, Issachar was with Barak,
    sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁶Why did you stay among the sheep pens
    to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁷Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
    And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher remained on the coast
    and stayed in his coves.
¹⁸The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;
    so did Naphtali on the terraced fields.

¹⁹“Kings came, they fought,
    the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,
    they took no plunder of silver.
²⁰From the heavens the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹The river Kishon swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!
²²Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
    galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.
²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD.
    ‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the LORD,
    to help the LORD against the mighty.’

²⁴“Most blessed of women be Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
    in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
²⁶Her hand reached for the tent peg,
    her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷At her feet he sank,
    he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell—dead.

²⁸“Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;
    behind the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
    Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
²⁹The wisest of her ladies answer her;
    indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
    a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
    colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments for my neck—
    all this as plunder?’

³¹“So may all your enemies perish, LORD!
    But may all who love you be like the sun
    when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years.

³⁵Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

³⁶He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.³⁷It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

³⁸The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he replied.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

³⁹Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.⁴⁰On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”⁴¹He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,⁴²“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”⁴³An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.⁴⁴And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.⁴⁶“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Jesus Arrested

⁴⁷While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him,⁴⁸but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?”⁵⁰And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

⁵¹But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

⁵²Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?⁵³Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

Psalm 94

94 The LORD is a God who avenges.
    O God who avenges, shine forth.
²Rise up, Judge of the earth;
    pay back to the proud what they deserve.
³How long, LORD, will the wicked,
    how long will the wicked be jubilant?

⁴They pour out arrogant words;
    all the evildoers are full of boasting.
⁵They crush your people, LORD;
    they oppress your inheritance.
⁶They slay the widow and the foreigner;
    they murder the fatherless.
⁷They say, “The LORD does not see;
    the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

⁸Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;
    you fools, when will you become wise?
⁹Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?
    Does he who formed the eye not see?
¹⁰Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
    Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
¹¹The LORD knows all human plans;
    he knows that they are futile.

¹²Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD,
    the one you teach from your law;
¹³you grant them relief from days of trouble,
    till a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴For the LORD will not reject his people;
    he will never forsake his inheritance.
¹⁵Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
    Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
¹⁷Unless the LORD had given me help,
    I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
¹⁸When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
    your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
¹⁹When anxiety was great within me,
    your consolation brought me joy.

²⁰Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
    a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
²¹The wicked band together against the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.
²²But the LORD has become my fortress,
    and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
²³He will repay them for their sins
    and destroy them for their wickedness;
    the LORD our God will destroy them.

³A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride,
    but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
    but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.