My Rock and My Fortress
Of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my grock,
hwho trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
2 he is my isteadfast love and my jfortress,
my kstronghold and my deliverer,
my lshield and he in whom I take refuge,
3 O Lord, nwhat is man that you oregard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?
4 pMan is like a breath;
5 sBow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
tTouch the mountains so that they smoke!
6 uFlash forth the lightning and scatter them;
usend out your arrows and rout them!
7 vStretch out your hand from on high;
wrescue me and deliver me from the many waters,
from the hand xof foreigners,
8 whose mouths speak ylies
and whose right hand is za right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing aa new song to you, O God;
upon aa ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who brescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand xof foreigners,
whose mouths speak ylies
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 May our sons in their youth
be like cplants full grown,
our daughters like dcorner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
13 emay our granaries be full,
fproviding all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
14 may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;2
may there be no gcry of distress in our streets!
15 hBlessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
iBlessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
The Woman and the Dragon
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman eclothed with fthe sun, with fthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and gwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great hred dragon, iwith seven heads and jten horns, and on his heads kseven diadems. 4 His tail swept down la third of the stars of heaven and mcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child nhe might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, oone who is to rule1 all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was pcaught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for q1,260 days.
Satan Thrown Down to Earth
7 Now war arose in heaven, rMichael and shis angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And tthe great dragon was thrown down, uthat ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, vthe deceiver of the whole world—whe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now xthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers2 has been thrown down, ywho accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And zthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for athey loved not their lives beven unto death. 12 Therefore, crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ehe knows that his time is short!”
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued fthe woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two gwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent hinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ifor a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water jlike a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off kto make war on the rest of lher offspring, mon those who keep the commandments of God and hold to nthe testimony of Jesus. And he stood3 on the sand of the sea.
