DEBORAH AND BARAK

4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. 2 So the Lord sold them to King Jabinb of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.c The commander of his army was Siserad who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.* 3 Then the Israelites cried oute to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.

4 Deborah, a prophetessf and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.g

6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel,h commanded you, ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor,i and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalitesj and Zebulunites?k 7 Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishonl to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”m

8 Barak 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 gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.