Deborah

4 When Ehud was dead, athe children of Israel again did bevil in the sight of the Lord. 2 So the Lord csold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in dHazor. The commander of his army was eSisera, who dwelt in fHarosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred gchariots of iron, and for twenty years hhe had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 iAnd she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for jBarak the son of Abinoam from kKedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and 1deploy troops at Mount lTabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you mI will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the nRiver Kishon; and I will 2deliver him into your hand’?”

8 And 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!”

9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will osell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called pZebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men qunder 3his command, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber rthe Kenite, of the children of sHobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, twhich is beside Kedesh.

12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, 4“Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. uHas not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 And the Lord routed 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. 16 But 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; not a man was vleft.

17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of wJael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a 5blanket.

19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened xa jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”

21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, ytook a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah

5 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam asang on that day, saying:

2 “When 1leaders blead in Israel,

cWhen the people 2willingly offer themselves,

Bless the Lord!

3 “Hear, dO kings! Give ear, O princes!

I, even eI, will sing to the Lord;

I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

4 “Lord, fwhen You went out from Seir,

When You marched from gthe field of Edom,

The earth trembled and the heavens poured,

The clouds also poured water;

5 hThe mountains 3gushed before the Lord,

iThis Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.

6 “In the days of jShamgar, son of Anath,

In the days of kJael,

lThe highways were deserted,

And the travelers walked along the byways.

7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel,

Until I, Deborah, arose,

Arose a mother in Israel.

8 They chose mnew gods;

Then there was war in the gates;

Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.

9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel

Who offered themselves willingly with the people.

Bless the Lord!

10 “Speak, you who ride on white ndonkeys,

Who sit in judges’ attire,

And who walk along the road.

11 Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places,

There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord,

The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel;

Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates.

12 “Awake, oawake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, sing a song!

Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away,

O son of Abinoam!

13 “Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles;

The Lord came down for me against the mighty.

14 From Ephraim were those whose roots were in pAmalek.

After you, Benjamin, with your peoples,

From Machir rulers came down,

And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff.

15 And 4the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;

As Issachar, so was Barak

Sent into the valley 5under his command;

Among the divisions of Reuben

There were great resolves of heart.

16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,

To hear the pipings for the flocks?

The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart.

17 qGilead stayed beyond the Jordan,

And why did Dan remain 6on ships?

rAsher continued at the seashore,

And stayed by his inlets.

18 sZebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death,

Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.

19 “The kings came and fought,

Then the kings of Canaan fought

In tTaanach, by the waters of Megiddo;

They took no spoils of silver.

20 They fought from the heavens;

The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.

21 uThe torrent of Kishon swept them away,

That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon.

O my soul, march on in strength!

22 Then the horses’ hooves pounded,

The galloping, galloping of his steeds.

23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the 7angel of the Lord,

‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly,

Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,

To the help of the Lord against the mighty.’

24 “Most blessed among women is Jael,

The wife of Heber the Kenite;

vBlessed is she among women in tents.

25 He asked for water, she gave milk;

She brought out cream in a lordly bowl.

26 She stretched her hand to the tent peg,

Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer;

She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head,

She split and struck through his temple.

27 At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still;

At her feet he sank, he fell;

Where he sank, there he fell wdead.

28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window,

And cried out through the lattice,

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’

29 Her wisest 8ladies answered her,

Yes, she 9answered herself,

30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil:

To every man a girl or two;

For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments,

Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed,

Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’

31 “Thus let all Your enemies xperish, O Lord!

But let those who love Him be ylike the zsun

When it comes out in full astrength.”

So the land had rest for forty years.

Midianites Oppress Israel

6 Then the children of Israel did aevil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of bMidian for seven years, 2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, cthe caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the dpeople of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they would encamp against them and edestroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor fdonkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were 1without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel gcried out to the Lord.

7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, 8 that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the hhouse of 2bondage; 9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and idrove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; jdo not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My kvoice.’ ”

Gideon

11 Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash lthe Abiezrite, while his son mGideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the nAngel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is owith you, you mighty man of valor!”

13 Gideon said to Him, “O 3my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And pwhere are all His miracles qwhich our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has rforsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, s“