² “When the princes in Israel take the lead,
    when the people willingly offer^(AL) themselves—
    praise the Lord!^(AM)

³ “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
    I, even I, will sing to^[b] the Lord;^(AN)
    I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.^(AO)

⁴ “When you, Lord, went out^(AP) from Seir,^(AQ)
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook,^(AR) the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.^(AS)
5 The mountains quaked^(AT) before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,^(AU)
    in the days of Jael,^(AV) the highways^(AW) were abandoned;
    travelers took to winding paths.^(AX)
7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;
    they held back until I, Deborah,^(AY) arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸ God chose new leaders^(AZ)
    when war came to the city gates,^(BA)
but not a shield or spear^(BB) was seen
    among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹ My heart is with Israel’s princes,
    with the willing volunteers^(BC) among the people.
    Praise the Lord!

¹⁰ “You who ride on white donkeys,^(BD)
    sitting on your saddle blankets,
    and you who walk along the road,
consider ¹¹ the voice of the singers^[c] at the watering places.
    They recite the victories^(BE) of the Lord,
    the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the Lord
    went down to the city gates.^(BF)
12 ‘Wake up,^(BG) wake up, Deborah!^(BH)
    Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!^(BI)
    Take captive your captives,^(BJ) son of Abinoam.’

¹³ “The remnant of the nobles came down;
    the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim,^(BK) whose roots were in Amalek;^(BL)
    Benjamin^(BM) was with the people who followed you.
From Makir^(BN) captains came down,
    from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s^[d] staff.
¹⁵ The princes of Issachar^(BO) were with Deborah;^(BP)
    yes, Issachar was with Barak,^(BQ)
    sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁶ Why did you stay among the sheep pens^[e](BR)
    to hear the whistling for the flocks?^(BS)
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead^(BT) stayed beyond the Jordan.
    And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher^(BU) remained on the coast^(BV)
    and stayed in his coves.
¹⁸ The people of Zebulun^(BW) risked their very lives;
    so did Naphtali^(BX) on the terraced fields.^(BY)

¹⁹ “Kings came^(BZ), they fought,
    the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,^(CA)
    they took no plunder of silver.^(CB)
20 From the heavens^(CC) the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon^(CD) swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!^(CE)
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
    galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.^(CF)
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.
    ‘Curse its people bitterly,
because they did not come to help the Lord,
    to help the Lord against the mighty.’

²⁴ “Most blessed of women^(CG) be Jael,^(CH)
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,^(CI)
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;^(CJ)
    in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
²⁶ Her hand reached for the tent peg,
    her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
    she shattered and pierced his temple.^(CK)
27 At her feet he sank,
    he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell—dead^(CL).

²⁸ “Through the window^(CM) peered Sisera’s mother;
    behind the lattice she cried out,^(CN)
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
    Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’
²⁹ The wisest of her ladies answer her;
    indeed, she keeps saying to herself,
³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:^(CO)
    a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
    colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments^(CP) for my neck—
    all this as plunder?^(CQ)’

³¹ “So may all your enemies perish,^(CR) Lord!
    But may all who love you be like the sun^(CS)
    when it rises in its strength.”^(CT)