Judges 4-5

Jubilee Bible 2000

4 ¶ But the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD when Ehud was dead.

² And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose host was Sisera, and he dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

³ And the sons of Israel cried unto the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had mightily oppressed the sons of Israel for twenty years.

⁴ ¶ And a woman judged Israel at that time, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth.

⁵ This Deborah dwelt under a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶ And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh of Naphtali and said unto him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded thee, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun?

⁷ And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, unto thee to the river Kishon, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hands.

⁸ And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

⁹ And she said, I will surely go with thee, but thy honour shall not be in the way that thou goest; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰ ¶ And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with ten thousand men on foot, and Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now Heber, the Kenite, of the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

¹² And the news came unto Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, was gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³ And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said unto Barak, Rise up, for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into thy hands. Is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.

¹⁵ And the LORD broke Sisera and all his chariots and all his host with the edge of the sword before Barak so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on foot.

¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the host unto Harosheth of the Gentiles, and all the camp of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.

¹⁷ ¶ And Sisera fled on foot 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.

¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a thick coverlet.

¹⁹ And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him to drink and covered him again.

²⁰ Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and if anyone should come and enquire of thee and say, Is there anyone here? Thou shalt say, No.

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took the tent stake, and putting a hammer in her hand, went softly unto him and smote the stake into his temples and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

²² And as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he entered into where she was, behold, Sisera lay dead with the stake through his temples.

²³ So God subjected on that day Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel.

²⁴ And the hand of the sons of Israel began to prosper and to prevail against Jabin, the king of Canaan until they had destroyed him.

5 ¶ Then sang Deborah with Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,

² Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.

³ Hear, O ye kings. Give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will praise the LORD God of Israel.

⁴ LORD, when thou didst go out of Seir, when thou didst march out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped; the clouds also dropped water.

⁵ The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.

⁶ ¶ In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways ceased, and those that walked went astray through crooked paths.

⁷ The inhabitants of the villages ceased; they had ceased in Israel until I Deborah arose, I arose a mother in Israel.

⁸ When they chose new gods, the war was at the gates. Was there a shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹ My heart is toward the princes of Israel, those that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.

¹⁰ Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that preside in judgment, and walk by the way.

¹¹ Because of the noise of archers, taken from among those that draw water, there they shall retell the righteousnesses of the LORD, even the righteousnesses of his villages in Israel. Now shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

¹² ¶ Rise up, rise up, Deborah; rise up, rise up, sing a song. Stand up, Barak and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.

¹³ Now he has made the remnant of the people to have dominion over the magnificent; the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

¹⁴ Out of Ephraim came his root against Amalek; after thee, came Benjamin, against thy peoples; out of Machir came down princes; and from Zebulun, those that handle the pen of the writer.

¹⁵ Also princes of Issachar were with Deborah; and Issachar, like Barak, went on foot into the valley. From the divisions of Reuben, great are the thoughts of the heart.

¹⁶ Why didst thou abide among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? From the divisions of Reuben great are the searchings of the heart.

¹⁷ Gilead remained on the other side of the Jordan, and why did Dan remain next to the ships? Asher continued on the sea shore and remained in his breaches.

¹⁸ Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

¹⁹ The kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

²⁰ They fought from the heavens; the stars from their ways fought against Sisera.

²¹ The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. Tread down, O my soul, with strength.

²² Then were the hoofs of the horses broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

²³ Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

²⁴ ¶ Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth cream in a lordly dish.

²⁶ She put her hand to the stake, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer, and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸ The mother of Sisera looked out the window and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots tarry?

²⁹ Her wise princesses answered her; and she even answered to herself,

³⁰ Have they not found spoil and are dividing it? To each man a damsel or two; to Sisera a spoil of different colours, a spoil of different colours of needlework, of different colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of those that take the spoil?

³¹ So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD, but let those that love thee be as the sun when he rises in all his might. And the land had rest forty years.