Judges 4:1-9

Christian Standard Bible

Deborah and Barak

4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. ² So the Lord sold them to King Jabin^(A) of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor.^(B) The commander of his army was Sisera^(C) who lived in Harosheth of the Nations.^{[a] 3} Then the Israelites cried out^(D) to the Lord, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he harshly oppressed them twenty years.

⁴ Deborah, a prophetess^(E) and the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵ She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to settle disputes.^(F)

⁶ She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel,^(G) commanded you, ‘Go, deploy the troops on Mount Tabor,^(H) and take with you ten thousand men from the Naphtalites^(I) and Zebulunites?^{(J) 7} Then I will lure Sisera commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his infantry at the Wadi Kishon^(K) to fight against you, and I will hand him over to you.’”^(L)

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹ “I will gladly go with you,” she said, “but you will receive no honor on the road you are about to take, because the Lord will sell Sisera to a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.