Deborah and Barak

Judges 4:1–5:31 WEB

^4:1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, when Ehud was dead. ²The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. ³The children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. ⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. ⁵She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? ⁷I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’” ⁸Barak 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 surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for the LORD will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him. ¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. ¹²They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. ¹³Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon. ¹⁴Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. ¹⁵The LORD confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet. ¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. ¹⁷However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.” He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him. ²⁰He said to her, “Stand in 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, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died. ²²Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples. ²³So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day. ²⁴The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

^5:1Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, ²“Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, LORD! ³“Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁴“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water. ⁵The mountains quaked at the LORD’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁶“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways. ⁷The rulers ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; Until I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? ⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD! ¹⁰“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way. ¹¹Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they will rehearse the LORD’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. “Then the LORD’s people went down to the gates. ¹²‘Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, utter a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’ ¹³“Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. The LORD came down for me against the mighty. ¹⁴Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Governors come down out of Machir. Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun. ¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. They rushed into the valley at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben, there were great resolves of heart. ¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds? To hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and lived by his creeks. ¹⁸Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death; Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. ¹⁹“The kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver. ²⁰From the sky the stars fought. From their courses, they fought against Sisera. ²¹The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength. ²²Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, the prancing of their strong ones. ²³‘Curse Meroz,’ said the LORD’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’ ²⁴“Jael shall be blessed above women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵He asked for water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples. ²⁷At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ²⁸“Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera’s mother looked through the lattice. ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?’ ²⁹Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰‘Have they not found, have they not divided the plunder? A lady, two ladies to every man; to Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, a plunder of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?’ ³¹“So let all your enemies perish, LORD, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.