Judges 4:17-23

New American Standard Bible

¹⁷Now Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a ^[a]rug. ¹⁹^(A)And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” ²¹But Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(B)took a tent peg and ^[b]a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. ²²And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he entered ^[c]with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

²³So ^(C)God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel.

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Footnotes

Judges 4:18 Or blanket
Judges 4:21 Lit put a hammer
Judges 4:22 Lit to

Judges 5:24-31

New American Standard Bible

²⁴“^(A)Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
²⁵He asked for water, she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
²⁶She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell ^[a]dead.

²⁸“Out of the window she looked and wailed,
The mother of Sisera through the ^[b]lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the ^[c]hoofbeats of his chariots delay?’
²⁹Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
³⁰‘^(B)Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoils?
A concubine, two concubines for every warrior;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed cloth,
A spoil of dyed cloth embroidered,
Dyed cloth of double embroidery on the ^[d]neck of the plunderer?’
³¹^(C)May all Your enemies perish in this way, Lord;
^(D)But may those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”