Judges 5

New King James Version

² “When^[a] leaders ^(B)lead in Israel,
^(C)When the people ^[b]willingly offer themselves,
Bless the Lord!

³ “Hear,^(D) O kings! Give ear, O princes!
I, even ^(E)I, will sing to the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴ “Lord, ^(F)when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from ^(G)the field of Edom,
The earth trembled and the heavens poured,
The clouds also poured water;
^5 (H)The mountains ^[c]gushed before the Lord,
^(I)This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.

⁶ “In the days of ^(J)Shamgar, son of Anath,
In the days of ^(K)Jael,
^(L)The 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 ^(M)new 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 ^(N)donkeys,
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,^(O) awake, 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 ^(P)Amalek.
After you, Benjamin, with your peoples,
From Machir rulers came down,
And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff.
¹⁵ And ^[d]the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As Issachar, so was Barak
Sent into the valley ^[e]under 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 (Q)Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan,
And why did Dan remain ^[f]on ships?
^(R)Asher continued at the seashore,
And stayed by his inlets.
^18 (S)Zebulun 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 ^(T)Taanach, 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 (U)The 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 ^[g]angel 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;
^(V)Blessed 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 ^(W)dead.

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 ^[h]ladies answered her,
Yes, she ^[i]answered 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 ^(X)perish, O Lord!
But let those who love Him be ^(Y)like the ^(Z)sun
When it comes out in full ^(AA)strength.”