Judges 4–5

DEBORAH AND BARAK

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

⁴Deborah, a prophetess^f and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵She 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

⁶She 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 Naphtalites^j and Zebulunites?^{k 7}Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon^l to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’ ”^m

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 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. ¹⁰Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the sons of Hobab,ⁿ Moses’s father-in-law,^o and pitched his tent beside the oak tree of Zaanannim,^p which was near Kedesh.

¹²It was reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor. ¹³Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the troops who were with him from Harosheth of the Nations to the Wadi Kishon. ¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has handed Sisera over to you. Hasn’t the Lord gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

¹⁵The Lord threw Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army into a panic^q before Barak’s assault. Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the Nations, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

¹⁷Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰Then he said to her, “Stand at the entrance to the tent. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” ²¹While he was sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife, Jael, took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She hammered the peg into his temple and drove it 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 looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

²³That day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴The power of the Israelites continued to increase against King Jabin of Canaan until they destroyed him.

DEBORAH’S SONG

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

²When the leaders lead^A in Israel,

when the people volunteer,

blessed be the Lord.

³Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!

I will sing to the Lord;

I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴Lord, when you came from Seir,^a

when you marched from the fields of Edom,

the earth trembled,^b

the skies poured^c rain,

and the clouds poured water.

⁵The mountains melted before the Lord,

even Sinai,^A before the Lord, the God of Israel.^d

⁶In the days of Shamgar^e son of Anath,

in the days of Jael,^f

the main roads were deserted

because travelers kept to the side roads.

⁷Villages were deserted,^B

they were deserted in Israel,

until I,^C Deborah, arose,

a mother in Israel.

⁸Israel chose new gods,

then there was war in the city gates.

Not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is with the leaders of Israel,

with the volunteers of the people.

Blessed be the Lord!

¹⁰You who ride on white^B donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets,

and who travel on the road, give praise!

¹¹Let them tell the righteous acts^g of the Lord,

the righteous deeds of his villagers in Israel,

with the voices of the singers at the watering places.^B

Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates.

¹²“Awake! Awake, Deborah!

Awake! Awake, sing a song!

Arise, Barak,

and take your prisoners,

son of Abinoam!”

¹³Then the survivors^h came down to the nobles;ⁱ

the Lord’s people came down to me^D against the warriors.

¹⁴Those with their roots in Amalek^E came from Ephraim;

Benjamin came with your people after you.

The leaders came down from Machir,^j

and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;

Issachar was with Barak;

they were under his leadership^Fk in the valley.

There was great searching^G of heart

among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheep pens^H

listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?

There was great searching of heart

among the clans of Reuben.

¹⁷Gilead^l remained beyond the Jordan.

Dan, why did you linger at the ships?

Asher remained at the seashore

and stayed in his harbors.

¹⁸The people of Zebulun defied death,

Naphtali also, 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 did not plunder the silver.

²⁰The stars fought from the heavens;

the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away,^m

the ancient river, the river Kishon.

March on, my soul, in strength!

²²The horses’ hooves then hammered—

the galloping, galloping of his^A 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 with the warriors.”

²⁴Jael is most blessed of women, is Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite;

she is most blessed among tent-dwelling women.

²⁵He asked for water; she gave him milk.

She brought him cream^a in a majestic bowl.

²⁶She reached for a tent peg,

her right hand, for a workman’s hammer.

Then she hammered Sisera—

she crushed his head;

she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet;

he collapsed, he fell between her feet;

where he collapsed, there he fell—dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked through the window;

she peered through the lattice, crying out:

“Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why don’t I hear the hoofbeats of his horses?”^B

²⁹Her wisest princesses answer her;

she even answers herself:

³⁰“Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—

a girl or two^C for each warrior,

the spoil of colored garments for Sisera,

the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”^D

³¹Lord, may all your enemies perish as Sisera did.^E

But may those who love him

be like the rising of the sun in its strength.

And the land had peace for forty years.