¹And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ²And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-ha-goiim. ³Then the people of Israel cried to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abino-am from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. ⁷And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’ ” ⁸Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰And Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up at his heels; and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Za-anannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abino-am had gone up to Mount Tabor, ¹³Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak at the edge of the sword; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. ¹⁶And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

¹⁷But 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 came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹And he said to her, “Pray, give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is any one here?’ say, No.” ²¹But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, till it went down into the ground, as he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. ²²And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her tent; and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. ²⁴And the hand of the people of Israel bore harder and harder on Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Chapter 5

¹Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abino-am on that day:

²“That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

that the people offered themselves willingly,

bless the Lord!

³“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;

to the Lord I will sing,

I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁴“Lord, when thou didst go forth from Seir,

when thou didst march from the region of Edom,

the earth trembled,

and the heavens dropped,

yea, the clouds dropped water.

⁵The mountains quaked before the Lord,

yon Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel.

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

in the days of Jael, caravans ceased

and travelers kept to the byways.

⁷The peasantry ceased in Israel, they ceased

until you arose, Deborah,

arose as a mother in Israel.

⁸When new gods were chosen,

then war was in the gates.

Was shield or spear to be seen

among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel

who offered themselves willingly among the people.

Bless the Lord.

¹⁰“Tell of it, you who ride on tawny asses,

you who sit on rich carpets

and you who walk by the way.

¹¹To the sound of musicians at the watering places,

there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord,

the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.

“Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.

¹²“Awake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, utter a song!

Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,

O son of Abino-am.

¹³Then down marched the remnant of the noble;

the people of the Lord marched down for him against the mighty.

¹⁴From Ephraim they set out thither into the valley,

following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen;

from Machir marched down the commanders,

and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;

¹⁵the princes of Issachar came with Deborah,

and Issachar faithful to Barak;

into the valley they rushed forth at his heels.

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁶Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,

to hear the piping for the flocks?

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;

and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?

Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,

settling down by his landings.

¹⁸Zebulun is a people that jeoparded their lives to the death;

Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹“The kings came, they fought;

then fought the kings of Canaan,

at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;

they got no spoils of silver.

²⁰From heaven fought the stars,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹The torrent Kishon swept them away,

the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.

March on, my soul, with might!

²²“Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs

with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,

curse bitterly its inhabitants,

because they came not to the help of the Lord,

to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴“Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

²⁵He asked water and she gave him milk,

she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.

²⁶She put her hand to the tent peg

and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;

she struck Sisera a blow,

she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷He sank, he fell,

he lay still at her feet;

at her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell dead.

²⁸“Out of the window she peered,

the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

²⁹Her wisest ladies make answer,

nay, she gives answer to herself,

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? —

A maiden or two for every man;

spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,

spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,

two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’

³¹“So perish all thine enemies, O Lord!

But thy friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”

And the land had rest for forty years.

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