Judges 4-5

New King James Version

Deborah

4 When Ehud was dead, ^(A)the children of Israel again did ^(B)evil in the sight of the Lord. ²So the Lord ^(C)sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in ^(D)Hazor. The commander of his army was ^(E)Sisera, who dwelt in ^(F)Harosheth Hagoyim. ³And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred ^(G)chariots of iron, and for twenty years ^(H)he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵^(I)And 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. ⁶Then she sent and called for ^(J)Barak the son of Abinoam from ^(K)Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and ^[a]deploy troops at Mount ^(L)Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; ⁷and against you ^(M)I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the ^(N)River Kishon; and I will ^[b]deliver him into your hand’?”

⁸And 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!”

⁹So 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 ^(O)sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰And Barak called ^(P)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men ^(Q)under^[c] his command, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹Now Heber ^(R)the Kenite, of the children of ^(S)Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, ^(T)which is beside Kedesh.

¹²And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³So 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.

¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, ^[d]“Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. ^(U)Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵And 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. 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; not a man was ^(V)left.

¹⁷However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of ^(W)Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And 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 ^[e]blanket.

¹⁹Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened ^(X)a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. ²⁰And 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.’ ”

²¹Then Jael, Heber’s wife, ^(Y)took 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. ²²And 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.

²³So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. ²⁴And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

The Song of Deborah

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

²“When^[f] leaders ^(AA)lead in Israel,
^(AB)When the people ^[g]willingly offer themselves,
Bless the Lord!

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

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

⁶“In the days of ^(AI)Shamgar, son of Anath,
In the days of ^(AJ)Jael,
^(AK)The highways were deserted,
And the travelers walked along the byways.
⁷Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Arose a mother in Israel.
⁸They chose ^(AL)new gods;
Then there was war in the gates;
Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹My heart is with the rulers of Israel
Who offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the Lord!

¹⁰“Speak, you who ride on white ^(AM)donkeys,
Who sit in judges’ attire,
And who walk along the road.
¹¹Far 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,^(AN) 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.
¹⁴From Ephraim were those whose roots were in ^(AO)Amalek.
After you, Benjamin, with your peoples,
From Machir rulers came down,
And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff.
¹⁵And ^[i]the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As Issachar, so was Barak
Sent into the valley ^[j]under his command;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,
To hear the pipings for the flocks?
The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart.
¹⁷^(AP)Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan,
And why did Dan remain ^[k]on ships?
^(AQ)Asher continued at the seashore,
And stayed by his inlets.
¹⁸^(AR)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 ^(AS)Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
They took no spoils of silver.
²⁰They fought from the heavens;
The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.
²¹^(AT)The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon.
O my soul, march on in strength!
²²Then the horses’ hooves pounded,
The galloping, galloping of his steeds.
²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the ^[l]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;
^(AU)Blessed is she among women in tents.
²⁵He asked for water, she gave milk;
She brought out cream in a lordly bowl.
²⁶She 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.
²⁷At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still;
At her feet he sank, he fell;
Where he sank, there he fell ^(AV)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?’
²⁹Her wisest ^[m]ladies answered her,
Yes, she ^[n]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?’