Judges 5:13-31

English Standard Version

¹³Then down marched the remnant of the noble;
    the people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty.
¹⁴From ^(A)Ephraim their root ^(B)they marched down into the valley,^[a]
    following you, Benjamin, with your kinsmen;
from ^(C)Machir marched down the commanders,
    and from Zebulun those who bear the lieutenant's^[b] staff;
¹⁵the princes of Issachar came with Deborah,
    and Issachar faithful to ^(D)Barak;
    into the valley they rushed at his heels.
Among the clans of Reuben
    there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁶Why did you sit still ^(E)among the sheepfolds,
    to hear the whistling for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
    there were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷^(F)Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;
    ^(G)and Dan, why did he stay with the ships?
^(H)Asher sat still ^(I)at the coast of the sea,
    staying by his landings.
¹⁸^(J)Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;
    ^(K)Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹“The kings came, they fought;
    then fought the kings of Canaan,
at ^(L)Taanach, by the waters of ^(M)Megiddo;
    ^(N)they got no spoils of silver.
²⁰^(O)From heaven the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹^(P)The torrent Kishon swept them away,
    the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
    March on, my soul, with might!

²²“Then loud beat the horses' hoofs
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

²³“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,
curse its inhabitants thoroughly,
^(Q)because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

²⁴“Most blessed of women be ^(R)Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
²⁵^(S)He asked for water and she gave him milk;
    she brought him curds in a noble's bowl.
²⁶^(T)She sent her hand to the tent peg
    and her right hand to the workmen's mallet;
she struck Sisera;
    she crushed his head;
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷Between her feet
    he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
    he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
    there he fell—dead.

²⁸^(U)“Out of the window she peered,
    the mother of Sisera wailed through ^(V)the lattice:
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
    Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’
²⁹Her wisest princesses answer,
    indeed, she answers herself,
³⁰‘Have they not found and ^(W)divided the spoil?—
    A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
    spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
    two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?’