Judges 5

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.