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

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

⁴ “When you, Lord, went out^(H) from Seir,^(I)
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook,^(J) the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.^(K)
5 The mountains quaked^(L) before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

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

²⁴ “Most blessed of women^(A) be Jael,^(B)
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,^(C)
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;^(D)
    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.^(E)
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^(F).

²⁸ “Through the window^(G) peered Sisera’s mother;
    behind the lattice she cried out,^(H)
‘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:^(I)
    a woman or two for each man,
colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,
    colorful garments embroidered,
highly embroidered garments^(J) for my neck—
    all this as plunder?^(K)’

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