Judges 4–5

Chapter 4

Deborah and Barak Deliver from Canaanites

¹Then ^athe sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died.

²And the Lord 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.

³The sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for he had nine hundred ^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.

⁵She 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.

⁶Now she sent and summoned ^aBarak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “¹Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel, has commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

⁷‘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.”

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

¹⁰Barak called ^aZebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand 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.

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

¹⁴Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; ¹behold, ^athe Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

^15aThe Lord ¹routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.

¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; ^anot even one was left.

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.

¹⁸Jael 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.

^19aHe 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.

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

²¹But Jael, Heber’s wife, ^atook a tent peg and ¹seized 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.

²²And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, 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.

²⁴The hand of the sons of Israel pressed heavier and heavier upon Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had ¹destroyed 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“^aThat ¹the leaders led in Israel,

That ^bthe people volunteered,

Bless the Lord!

³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers!

^aI—to the Lord, I will sing,

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

⁴“^aLord, 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 ¹quaked at the presence of the Lord,

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

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

In the days of ^bJael, the highways ¹were deserted,

And travelers ²went by ³roundabout ways.

⁷“The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel,

Until I, Deborah, arose,

Until I arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸“^aNew gods were chosen;

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 the Lord!

¹⁰“^aYou who ride on ¹white donkeys,

You who sit on rich carpets,

And you who travel on the road—²sing!

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

There they shall recount ^bthe righteous deeds of the Lord,

The righteous deeds for His ¹peasantry in Israel.

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

¹²“^aAwake, awake, Deborah;

Awake, awake, ¹sing a song!

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

¹³“Then survivors came down to the nobles;

The people of the Lord 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 ¹office.

¹⁵“And the ¹princes 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 were great resolves of heart.

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

To hear the piping for the flocks?

Among the divisions of Reuben

There were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷“^aGilead ¹remained across the Jordan;

And why did Dan stay in ships?

Asher sat at the seashore,

And remained 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 plunder in silver.

²⁰“^aThe stars fought from heaven,

From their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹“The torrent of Kishon swept them away,

The ancient torrent, the torrent 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 the Lord,

‘Utterly curse its inhabitants;

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

To the help of the Lord 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 magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶“She reached out her hand for the tent peg,

And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.

Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;

And she shattered 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 ¹dead.

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 warrior;

To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,

A spoil of dyed work embroidered,

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

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

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

And the land was undisturbed for forty years.