One Year Bible.

Deborah and Barak

¹After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. ²So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. ³Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

⁶She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

⁸Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹“I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the LORD will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh, ¹⁰where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

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

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?”

So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶Then Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

Jael Kills Sisera

¹⁷Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

¹⁹Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

²⁰“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”

²¹But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

²²When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg through his temple.

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

The Song of Deborah and Barak

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

²“When the princes take the lead in Israel,

when the people volunteer,

bless the LORD.

³Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes!

I will sing to the LORD;

I will sing praise to the LORD,

the God of Israel.

⁴O LORD, when You went out from Seir,

when You marched from the land of Edom,

the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain,

and the clouds poured down water.

⁵The mountains quaked before the LORD,

the One of Sinai,

before the LORD,

the God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael,

the highways were deserted

and the travelers took the byways.

⁷Life in the villages ceased;

it ended in Israel,

until I, Deborah, arose,

a mother in Israel.

⁸When they chose new gods,

then war came to their gates.

Not a shield or spear was found

among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is with the princes of Israel,

with the volunteers among the people.

Bless the LORD!

¹⁰You who ride white donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets,

and you who travel the road,

ponder ¹¹the voices of the singers

at the watering places.

There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD,

the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel.

Then the people of the LORD

went down to the gates:

¹²‘Awake, awake, O Deborah!

Awake, awake, sing a song!

Arise, O Barak,

and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

¹³Then the survivors came down to the nobles;

the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

¹⁴Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek;

Benjamin came with your people after you.

The commanders came down from Machir,

the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,

and Issachar was with Barak,

rushing into the valley at his heels.

In the clans of Reuben

there was great indecision.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

In the clans of Reuben

there was great indecision.

¹⁷Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.

Dan, why did you linger by the ships?

Asher stayed at the coast

and remained in his harbors.

¹⁸Zebulun was a people who risked their lives;

Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹Kings came and fought;

then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach

by the waters of Megiddo,

but 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 ancient river, the River Kishon.

March on, O my soul, in strength!

²²Then the hooves of horses thundered—

the mad galloping of his stallions.

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD.

‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants;

for they did not come to help the LORD,

to help the LORD against the mighty.’

²⁴Most blessed among women is Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

²⁵He asked for water, and she gave him milk.

In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶She reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera and crushed his skull;

she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷At her feet he collapsed, he fell,

there he lay still;

at her feet he collapsed, he fell;

where he collapsed, there he fell dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked through the window;

she peered through the lattice and lamented:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

²⁹Her wisest ladies answer;

indeed she keeps telling herself,

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—

a girl or two for each warrior,

a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera,

the spoil of embroidered garments

for the neck of the looter?’

³¹So may all Your enemies perish,

O LORD!

But may those who love You

shine like the sun at its brightest.”

And the land had rest for forty years.

A Thankful Heart

¹Of David.

I give You thanks with all my heart;

before the gods I sing Your praises.

²I bow down toward Your holy temple

and give thanks to Your name

for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness;

You have exalted Your name

and Your word above all else.

³On the day I called, You answered me;

You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.

⁴All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O LORD,

when they hear the words of Your mouth.

⁵They will sing of the ways of the LORD,

for the glory of the LORD is great.

⁶Though the LORD is on high,

He attends to the lowly;

but the proud He knows from afar.

⁷If I walk in the midst of trouble,

You preserve me from the anger of my foes;

You extend Your hand,

and Your right hand saves me.

⁸The LORD will fulfill

His purpose for me.

O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever —

do not abandon the works of Your hands.

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

¹Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. ²So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’

³The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I will do so that after my removal from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’

⁵And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.

⁶‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered.

‘Take your bill,’ said the manager, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

⁷Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’

‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he replied.

‘Take your bill and write eighty,’ he told him.

⁸The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light. ⁹I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

¹⁰Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

The Law and the Prophets

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus. ¹⁵So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹⁸Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor. ²⁰And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores ²¹and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

²⁴So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

²⁷‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

²⁹But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’

³⁰‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.’

³¹Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”