Judges 5

The Song of Deborah

5On that day Deborah^m and Barak son of Abinoamⁿ sang this song:^o

²“When the princes in Israel take the lead,

when the people willingly offer^p themselves—

praise the Lord!^q

³“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!

I, even I, will sing to^a the Lord;^r

I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.^s

⁴“When you, Lord, went out^t from Seir,^u

when you marched from the land of Edom,

the earth shook,^v the heavens poured,

the clouds poured down water.^w

⁵The mountains quaked^x before the Lord, the One of Sinai,

before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,^y

in the days of Jael,^z the highways^a were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.^b

⁷Villagers in Israel would not fight;

they held back until I, Deborah,^c arose,

until I arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸God chose new leaders^d

when war came to the city gates,^e

but not a shield or spear^f was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is with Israel’s princes,

with the willing volunteers^g among the people.

Praise the Lord!

¹⁰“You who ride on white donkeys,^h

sitting on your saddle blankets,

and you who walk along the road,

consider ¹¹the voice of the singers^b at the watering places.

They recite the victoriesⁱ of the Lord,

the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the Lord

went down to the city gates.^j

¹²‘Wake up,^k wake up, Deborah!^l

Wake up, wake up, break out in song!

Arise, Barak!^m

Take captive your captives,ⁿ son of Abinoam.’

¹³“The remnant of the nobles came down;

the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.

¹⁴Some came from Ephraim,^o whose roots were in Amalek;^p

Benjamin^q was with the people who followed you.

From Makir^r captains came down,

from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s^c staff.

¹⁵The princes of Issachar^s were with Deborah;^t

yes, Issachar was with Barak,^u

sent under his command into the valley.

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

¹⁶Why did you stay among the sheep pens^dv

to hear the whistling for the flocks?^w

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

¹⁷Gilead^x stayed beyond the Jordan.

And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?

Asher^y remained on the coast^z

and stayed in his coves.

¹⁸The people of Zebulun^a risked their very lives;

so did Naphtali^b on the terraced fields.^c

¹⁹“Kings came^d, they fought,

the kings of Canaan fought.

At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,^e

they took no plunder of silver.^f

²⁰From the heavens^g the stars fought,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹The river Kishon^h swept them away,

the age-old river, the river Kishon.

March on, my soul; be strong!ⁱ

²²Then thundered the horses’ hooves—

galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.^j

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.

‘Curse its people bitterly,

because they did not come to help the Lord,

to help the Lord against the mighty.’

²⁴“Most blessed of women^k be Jael,^l

the wife of Heber the Kenite,^m

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

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

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

²⁶Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.^o

²⁷At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead^p.

²⁸“Through the window^q peered Sisera’s mother;

behind the lattice she cried out,^r

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

²⁹The wisest of her ladies answer her;

indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:^s

a woman or two for each man,

colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,

colorful garments embroidered,

highly embroidered garments^t for my neck—

all this as plunder?^u’

³¹“So may all your enemies perish,^v Lord!

But may all who love you be like the sun^w

when it rises in its strength.”^x

Then the land had peace^y forty years.