¹After Ehud died, the people of Israel again did what the Lord considered evil. ²So the Lord used King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled at Hazor, to defeat them. The commander of King Jabin’s army was Sisera, who lived at Harosheth Haggoyim. ³The people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. King Jabin had 900 chariots made of iron and had cruelly oppressed Israel for 20 years.

⁴Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet. She was the judge in Israel at that time. ⁵She used to sit under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. The people of Israel would come to her for legal decisions.

⁶Deborah summoned Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali. She told him, “The Lord God of Israel has given you this order: ‘Gather troops on Mount Tabor. Take 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun with you. ⁷I will lead Sisera (the commander of Jabin’s army), his chariots, and troops to you at the Kishon River. I will hand him over to you.’ ”

⁸Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹Deborah replied, “Certainly, I’ll go with you. But you won’t win any honors for the way you’re going about this, because the Lord will use a woman to defeat Sisera.”

Barak Defeats Jabin

So Deborah started out for Kedesh with Barak. ¹⁰Barak called the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kedesh. Ten thousand men went to fight under his command. Deborah also went along with him.

¹¹Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites (the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law). Heber went as far away as the oak tree at Zaanannim near Kedesh and set up his tent.

¹²The report reached Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had come to fight at Mount Tabor. ¹³So Sisera summoned all his chariots (900 chariots made of iron) and all his troops from Harosheth Haggoyim to come to the Kishon River.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Attack! This is the day the Lord will hand Sisera over to you. The Lord will go ahead of you.”

So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men behind him. ¹⁵The Lord threw Sisera, all his chariots, and his whole army into a panic in front of Barak’s deadly assault. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth Haggoyim. So Sisera’s whole army was killed in combat. Not one man survived.

¹⁷Meanwhile, Sisera fled on foot toward the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera did this because King Jabin of Hazor and Heber’s family were on peaceful terms. ¹⁸When Jael came out ⸤of her tent⸥, she met Sisera. She told him, “Sir, come in here! Come into my tent. Don’t be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she hid him under a tent curtain.

¹⁹Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink. I’m thirsty.” But instead she gave him milk to drink and covered him up again.

²⁰He said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent. If anyone comes and asks if there has been a man around here, tell them no.”

²¹When Sisera had fallen sound asleep from exhaustion, Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and walked quietly toward him with a hammer in her hand. She hammered the tent peg through his temples into the ground. So Sisera died.

²²Barak was still pursuing Sisera. When Jael came out ⸤of her tent⸥, she met him. She said to him, “Come in! I have something to show you—the man you’ve been looking for.” So Barak went into her tent. He saw Sisera lying there dead with the tent peg through his temples.

²³So on that day, God used the people of Israel to crush the power of King Jabin of Canaan. ²⁴The Israelites became stronger and stronger until they destroyed him.

5TH CHAPTER

The Victory Song of Deborah and Barak

¹On that day Deborah and Barak, son of Abinoam, sang this song:

²Praise the Lord!

Men in Israel vowed to fight,

and people volunteered for service.

³Listen, you kings!

Open your ears, you princes!

I will sing a song to the Lord.

I will make music to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴O Lord,

when you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the country of Edom,

the earth quaked,

the sky poured,

the clouds burst,

⁵and the mountains shook

in the presence of the Lord God of Sinai,

in the presence of the Lord God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,

in the days of Jael,

roads were deserted.

Those who traveled took back roads.

⁷Villages in Israel were deserted—

deserted until I, Deborah, took a stand—

took a stand as a mother of Israel.

⁸When the people chose new gods,

war broke out inside the city gates.

Not a weapon was seen among 40,000 in Israel.

⁹My heart goes out to Israel’s commanders,

to those people who volunteered.

Praise the Lord!

¹⁰You people who ride on brown donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets,

and who walk on the road—think.

¹¹Listen to the voices of those singing at the wells.

Over and over again they repeat

the victories of the Lord,

the victories for his villages in Israel.

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

¹²Get up! Get up, Deborah!

Get up! Get up and create a song!

Barak, attack! Take your prisoners, son of Abinoam.

¹³Then those mighty men who were left came down.

The Lord’s people went into battle for me against the mighty soldiers.

¹⁴Those who had settled in Amalek’s country

came down from Ephraim.

Benjamin came with its troops

after Ephraim.

Commanders from Machir went into battle.

The officers from Zebulun also went.

¹⁵Issachar’s commanders were with Deborah.

They were also with Barak,

sent into the valley under his command.

Among Reuben’s divisions important men had second thoughts.

¹⁶Why did you sit between the saddlebags?

Was it to listen to the shepherds playing their flutes?

Reuben’s divisions of important men had second thoughts.

¹⁷Gilead remained east of the Jordan River.

And Dan … Why did he stay by the ships?

Asher sat on the seashore and remained along the inlets.

¹⁸But Zebulun mocked death,

and Naphtali risked his life on the battlefield.

¹⁹Kings came and fought.

Then the kings of Canaan fought.

They fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo.

But they didn’t carry off any rich loot.

²⁰The stars fought from heaven.

They fought against Sisera from their heavenly paths.

²¹The Kishon River swept them away—

that old river, the Kishon.

I must march on with strength!

²²Then the horses’ hoofs pounded.

The mighty war horses galloped on and on.

²³“Curse Meroz!” said the Messenger of the Lord.

“Bitterly curse those who live there!

They did not come to help the Lord,

to help the Lord and his heroes.”

²⁴Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite,

should be the most blessed woman,

the most blessed woman living in a tent.

²⁵Sisera asked for water.

She gave him milk.

She offered him buttermilk in a royal bowl.

²⁶She reached for a tent peg with one hand,

for a workman’s hammer with the other.

She struck Sisera.

She crushed his head.

She shattered and pierced his temples.

²⁷He sank.

He fell.

He lay between her feet!

He sank.

He fell between her feet.

Where he sank, he fell dead.

²⁸Sisera’s mother looked through her window

and cried as she peered through the lattice.

“Why is his chariot taking so long?

Why don’t I hear the clatter of his chariots?”

²⁹Her wisest servants gave her an answer.

But she kept repeating to herself,

³⁰“They’re really finding and dividing the loot:

A girl or two for each soldier,

colorful clothes for Sisera,

colorful, embroidered clothes,

and two pieces of colorful, embroidered cloth

for the neck of the looter.”

³¹May all your enemies die like that, O Lord.

But may those who love the Lord

be like the sun when it rises in all its brightness.

So the land had peace for 40 years.

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