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.