Deborah

4 After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ² So the Lord handed them over to the power of Jabin. He was a king in Canaan. He ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. He lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. ³ Jabin used 900 chariots that had some iron parts. He treated the Israelites very badly for 20 years. So they cried out to the Lord for help.

⁴ Deborah was a prophet. She was the wife of Lappidoth. She was leading Israel at that time. ⁵ Under the Palm Tree of Deborah she served the people as their judge. That place was between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites went up to her there. They came to have her decide cases for them. She settled matters between them. ⁶ Deborah sent for Barak. He was the son of Abinoam. Barak was from Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. Deborah said to Barak, “The Lord, the God of Israel, is giving you a command. He says, ‘Go! Take 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. Then lead them up to Mount Tabor. ⁷ I will lead Sisera into a trap. He is the commander of Jabin’s army. I will bring him, his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River. There I will hand him over to you.’ ”

⁸ Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”

⁹ “All right,” Deborah said. “I’ll go with you. But because of the way you are doing this, you won’t receive any honor. Instead, the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah went to Kedesh with Barak.

²³ On that day God brought Jabin under Israel’s control. He was a king in Canaan. ²⁴ Israel’s power grew stronger and stronger against King Jabin. The Israelites became so strong that they destroyed him.