Judges 5:20–30

²⁰The stars fought from the sky;

as they moved across the sky,

they fought against Sisera.

²¹A flood in the Kishon swept them away—

the onrushing River Kishon.

I shall march, march on, with strength!

²²Then the horses came galloping on,

stamping the ground with their hooves.

²³“Put a curse on Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord,

“a curse, a curse on those who live there.

They did not come to help the Lord,

come as soldiers to fight for him.”

²⁴The most fortunate of women is Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite—

the most fortunate of women who live in tents.

²⁵Sisera asked for water, but she gave him milk;

she brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.

²⁶She took a tent peg in one hand,

a workman’s hammer in the other;

she struck Sisera and crushed his skull;

she pierced him through the head.

²⁷He sank to his knees,

fell down and lay still at her feet.

At her feet he sank to his knees and fell;

he fell to the ground, dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked out of the window;

she gazed^p from behind the lattice.

“Why is his chariot so late in coming?” she asked.

“Why are his horses so slow to return?”

²⁹Her wisest ladies answered her, and she told herself over and over,

³⁰“They are only finding things to capture and divide,

a woman or two for every soldier,

rich cloth for Sisera,

embroidered pieces for the neck of the queen.”^q