¹¹ Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites,^(A) the descendants of Hobab,^(B) Moses’ brother-in-law,^[a] and pitched his tent by the great tree^(C) in Zaanannim^(D) near Kedesh.

¹² When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,^{(E) 13} Sisera summoned from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River^(F) all his men and his nine hundred chariots fitted with iron.^(G)

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands.^(H) Has not the Lord gone ahead^(I) of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵ At Barak’s advance, the Lord routed^(J) Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left.^{(K) 17} Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael,^(L) the wife of Heber the Kenite,^(M) because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor^(N) and the family of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸ Jael^(O) went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

¹⁹ “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk,^(P) gave him a drink, and covered him up.

²⁰ “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

²¹ But Jael,^(Q) Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep,^(R) exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.^(S)

²² Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael^(T) went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.^(U)

²³ On that day God subdued^(V) Jabin^(W) king of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴ And the hand of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.^(X)

The Song of Deborah

5 On that day Deborah^(Y) and Barak son of Abinoam^(Z) sang this song:^(AA)

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him^(A) immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.^(B)

Paying Taxes to Caesar^(C)

²⁰ Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said,^(D) so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.^{(E) 21} So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.^{(F) 22} Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

²³ He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²⁵ He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,^(G) and to God what is God’s.”

²⁶ They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.