Judges 4:1-16

New American Standard Bible

Deborah and Barak

4 Then ^(A)the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ²So the Lord sold them into the hand of ^(B)Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in ^(C)Harosheth-hagoyim. ³The sons of Israel cried out to the Lord; for he had nine hundred ^(D)iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel severely for twenty years.

⁴Now Deborah, a ^[a]prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵She used to ^[b]sit under the ^(E)palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment. ⁶Now she sent word and summoned ^(F)Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “^[c]The Lord, the God of Israel, has indeed commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his ^[d]many troops to the river Kishon, and ^(G)I will hand him over to you.’” ⁸Then 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.” ⁹She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, ^(H)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰Barak summoned ^(I)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up ^[e]^(J)with him; Deborah also went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber ^(K)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the ^[f]father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the ^[g]oak in ^(L)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

¹²Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³Sisera summoned all his chariots, ^(M)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from ^(N)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. ¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you; ^[h]behold, ^(O)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵^(P)And the Lord ^[i]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶But 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; ^(Q)not even one was left.

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Footnotes

Judges 4:4 Lit woman prophetess
Judges 4:5 Or live
Judges 4:6 Lit Has the Lord not commanded...?
Judges 4:7 Lit multitude
Judges 4:10 Lit at his feet
Judges 4:11 Another reading is brother-in-law
Judges 4:11 Or terebinth
Judges 4:14 Lit has the Lord not gone...?
Judges 4:15 Lit confused

Judges 5:1-23

New American Standard Bible

The Song of Deborah and Barak

5 ^(A)Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

²“^(B)For ^[a]the leaders leading in Israel,
For ^(C)the people volunteering,
Bless the Lord!
³Hear, you kings; listen, you dignitaries!
^(D)I myself—to the Lord, I myself will sing,
I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel!
⁴^(E)Lord, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
^(F)The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,
The clouds also dripped water.
⁵^(G)The mountains ^[b]flowed with water at the presence of the Lord,
^(H)This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶“In the days of ^(I)Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of ^(J)Jael, the roads ^[c]were deserted,
And travelers went by ^[d]roundabout ways.
⁷The ^[e]peasantry came to an end, they came to an end in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸^(K)New gods were chosen;
Then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or a spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹My heart goes out to ^(L)the commanders of Israel,
The volunteers among the people;
Bless the Lord!
¹⁰^(M)You who ride on ^[f]white donkeys,
You who sit on rich carpets,
And you who travel on the road—shout in praise!
¹¹At the sound of those who distribute water among ^(N)the watering places,
There they will recount ^(O)the righteous deeds of the Lord,
The righteous deeds for His ^[g]peasantry in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down ^(P)to the gates.

¹²“^(Q)Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, ^[h]sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and ^(R)lead away your captives, son of Abinoam.
¹³Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
¹⁴From Ephraim those whose root is ^(S)in Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of ^[i]office.
¹⁵And the ^[j]princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed ^(T)at his ^[k]heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great determinations of heart.
¹⁶Why did you sit among ^(U)the ^[l]sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷^(V)Gilead ^[m]remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay on ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And ^[n]remained by its landings.
¹⁸^(W)Zebulun was a people who risked their lives,
And Naphtali too, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹“^(X)The kings came and fought;
Then the kings of Canaan fought
^(Y)At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
^(Z)They took no plunder in silver.
²⁰^(AA)The stars fought from heaven,
From their paths they fought against Sisera.
²¹The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
^(AB)My soul, march on with strength!
²²^(AC)Then the horses’ hoofs beat
From the galloping, the galloping of his mighty stallions.
²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord,
‘Utterly curse its inhabitants,
^(AD)Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’