Psalm 18:1; Exodus 15:1–18; Judges 5

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Psalm 18:1

The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love you, O Lord, my strength.


Exodus 15:1–18

The Song of Moses

Then Moses and the people of Israel fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

gI will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and his rider1 he has thrown into the sea.

hThe Lord is my strength and my isong,

and he has become jmy salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

kmy father’s God, and lI will exalt him.

The Lord is ma man of war;

nthe Lord is his name.

oPharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,

and his chosen pofficers were sunk in the Red Sea.

The qfloods covered them;

they rwent down into the depths like a stone.

sYour right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,

your right hand, O Lord, tshatters the enemy.

In the ugreatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;

you send out your fury; it vconsumes them like stubble.

At the wblast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

the xfloods stood up in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, yI will pursue, I will overtake,

I zwill divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.

10  You ablew with your wind; the bsea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11  cWho is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in dglorious deeds, edoing wonders?

12  You stretched out fyour right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

13  You have gled in your steadfast love the people whom hyou have redeemed;

you have iguided them by your strength to your holy abode.

14  jThe peoples have heard; they tremble;

pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

15  Now are the chiefs of Edom kdismayed;

trembling seizes the leaders of lMoab;

mall the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

16  Terror and ndread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of your arm, they are still oas a stone,

till your people, O Lord, pass by,

till the people pass by whom pyou have purchased.

17  You will bring them in and qplant them on your own mountain,

the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,

rthe sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

18  sThe Lord will reign forever and ever.


Judges 5

The Song of Deborah and Barak

vThen sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

that wthe people offered themselves willingly,

bless the Lord!

Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;

to the Lord I will sing;

I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Lord, xwhen you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the region of Edom,

ythe earth trembled

and the heavens dropped,

yes, the clouds dropped water.

The mountains zquaked before the Lord,

aeven Sinai before the Lord,1 the God of Israel.

In the days of bShamgar, son of Anath,

in the days of cJael, dthe highways were abandoned,

and travelers kept to the byways.

The villagers ceased in Israel;

they ceased to be until I arose;

I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.

eWhen new gods were chosen,

then war was in the gates.

fWas shield or spear to be seen

among forty thousand in Israel?

My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel

who goffered themselves willingly among the people.

Bless the Lord.

10  Tell of it, hyou who ride on white donkeys,

you who sit on rich carpets2

and you who walk by the way.

11  To the sound of musicians3 at the watering places,

there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the Lord,

the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel.

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

12  iAwake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, break out in a song!

Arise, Barak, jlead away your captives,

O son of Abinoam.

13  Then down marched the remnant of the noble;

the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty.

14  From kEphraim their root lthey marched down into the valley,4

following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen;

from mMachir marched down the commanders,

and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant’s5 staff;

15  the princes of Issachar came with Deborah,

and Issachar faithful to nBarak;

into the valley they rushed at his heels.

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

16  Why did you sit still oamong the sheepfolds,

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

17  pGilead stayed beyond the Jordan;

qand Dan, why did he stay with the ships?

rAsher sat still sat the coast of the sea,

staying by his landings.

18  tZebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;

tNaphtali, too, on the heights of the field.

19  The kings came, they fought;

then fought the kings of Canaan,

at uTaanach, by the waters of vMegiddo;

wthey got no spoils of silver.

20  xFrom heaven the stars fought,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

21  yThe torrent Kishon swept them away,

the ancient 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 its inhabitants thoroughly,

zbecause 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 aJael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

25  bHe asked for water and she gave him milk;

she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.

26  cShe sent her hand to the tent peg

and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;

she struck Sisera;

she crushed his head;

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27  Between her feet

he sank, he fell, he lay still;

between her feet

he sank, he fell;

where he sank,

there he felldead.

28  dOut of the window she peered,

the mother of Sisera wailed through ethe lattice:

Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?

29  Her wisest princesses answer,

indeed, she answers herself,

30  Have they not found and fdivided the spoil?

A womb or two for every man;

spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,

spoil of dyed materials embroidered,

two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?

31  gSo may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But your friends be hlike the sun ias he rises in his might.

jAnd the land had rest for forty years.