Judges 4–5

CHAPTER 4

Yahweh Raises Up Deborah and Barak

¹Then ^athe sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Now Ehud had died.

²And Yahweh sold them into the hand of ^aJabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^bHarosheth-hagoyim.

³Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh; for he had 900 ^airon chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a ¹prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

⁵And she used to ¹sit under the ^apalm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶Then she sent and summoned ^aBarak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun?

⁷‘And I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ¹many troops to the river Kishon, and ^aI will give him into your hand.’”

⁸Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^afor Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰Then Barak called ^aZebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and 10,000 men went up ^1bwith him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber ^athe Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ¹oak in ^bZaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³So Sisera called together all his chariots, ^a900 iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^bHarosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon.

¹⁴And Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hand; has not ^aYahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him.

^15aAnd Yahweh threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his camp into confusion with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera came down from his chariot and fled away on foot.

¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and all those in the camp as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^anot even one remained.

¹⁷Now Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” And he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ¹rug.

^19aThen he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a ¹bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him.

²⁰And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and asks of you and says, ‘Is there a man here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’”

²¹Then Jael, Heber’s wife, ^atook a tent peg and placed a hammer in her hand and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.

²²Now behold, Barak was pursuing Sisera, and Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And he entered ¹with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So ^aGod subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.

²⁴And the hand of the sons of Israel went forth heavier and heavier against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin the king of Canaan.

CHAPTER 5

The Song of Deborah and Barak

^1aThen Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“^aWhen ¹the leaders led in Israel,

When ^bthe people volunteered,

Bless Yahweh!

³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!

^aAs for me, to Yahweh, I will sing;

I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel.

⁴“^aO Yahweh, when You went out from Seir,

When You marched from the field of Edom,

^bThe earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,

Even the clouds dripped water.

⁵“^aThe mountains ¹flowed at the presence of Yahweh,

^bThis Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

⁶“In the days of ^aShamgar the son of Anath,

In the days of ^bJael, the paths had ceased,

So travelers ¹went by ²roundabout paths.

⁷“The peasantry ceased; they ceased in Israel,

Until I, Deborah, arose,

Until I arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸“^1aGod chose new leaders;

Then war was in the gates.

Not a shield or a spear was seen

Among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹“My heart goes out to ^athe commanders of Israel,

The volunteers among the people;

Bless Yahweh!

¹⁰“^aYou who ride on ¹white donkeys,

You who sit on rich carpets,

And you who travel on the road—muse aloud!

¹¹“At the sound of those who divide flocks among ^athe watering places,

There they shall ¹commemorate ^bthe righteous deeds of Yahweh,

The righteous deeds for His ²peasantry in Israel.

Then the people of Yahweh went down ^cto the gates.

¹²“^aAwake, awake, Deborah;

Awake, awake, ¹utter a song!

Arise, Barak, and ^btake away your captives, O son of Abinoam.

¹³“Then survivors came down to the mighty ones;

The people of Yahweh came down to me as warriors.

¹⁴“From Ephraim those whose root is ^ain Amalek came down,

Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;

From Machir commanders came down,

And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of a scribe.

¹⁵“And ¹the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;

As was Issachar, so was Barak;

Into the valley they rushed ^aat his ²heels;

Among the divisions of Reuben

There was great persistence of the heart.

¹⁶“Why did you sit among ^athe ¹sheepfolds,

To hear the whistling for the flocks?

Among the divisions of Reuben

There were great probings of the heart.

¹⁷“^aGilead dwelt across the Jordan;

And why did Dan stay in ships?

Asher sat at the seashore,

And dwelt by its landings.

¹⁸“^aZebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,

And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹“^aThe kings came and fought;

Then fought the kings of Canaan

^bAt Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;

^cThey took no gain of silver.

²⁰“^aThe stars fought from heaven;

From their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹“The river of Kishon swept them away,

The ancient river, the river Kishon.

^aO my soul, march on with strength.

²²“^aThen the horses’ hoofs beat

From the dashing, the dashing of his ¹valiant steeds.

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of Yahweh,

‘Utterly curse its inhabitants,

^aBecause they did not come to the help of Yahweh,

To the help of Yahweh against the warriors.’

²⁴“^aMost blessed of women is Jael,

The wife of Heber the Kenite;

Most blessed is she of women in the tent.

²⁵“He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

In a mighty bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶“She sent forth her hand for the tent peg,

And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.

Then she beat Sisera; she smashed his head,

And she crushed and pierced his temple.

²⁷“Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;

Between her feet he bowed, he fell;

Where he bowed, there he fell violently devastated.

²⁸“Out of the window she looked and lamented,

The mother of Sisera through the ¹lattice,

‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?

Why do the ²hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’

²⁹“Her wise princesses would answer her,

Indeed she repeats her words to herself,

³⁰‘^aAre they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?

A maiden, two maidens for every mighty man;

To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,

A spoil of dyed work embroidered,

Dyed work of double embroidery on the ¹neck of the spoil?’

³¹“^aThus let all Your enemies perish, O Yahweh;

^bBut let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”

And the land was quiet for forty years.