Judges 4

Revised Geneva Translation

4 And again, the children of Israel began to do wickedly in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud was dead.

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

³ Then the children of Israel cried to the LORD. For Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the children of Israel very severely for twenty years.

⁴ And at that time, Deborah, a Prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel.

⁵ And this Deborah dwelt under a palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel, on Mount Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

⁶ Then she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh of Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel Commanded, saying, ‘Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun;

⁷ and I will draw to you (to the river Kishon) Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude, and will deliver him into your hand’?”

⁸ And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

⁹ Then she answered, “I will surely go with you; but this journey that you take shall not be for your honor. 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. And Deborah went up with him.

¹¹ Now, Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, had departed from the Kenites and pitched his tent as far away as the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

¹² Then they showed Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.

¹³ And Sisera called for all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles to the river Kishon.

¹⁴ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand! Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

¹⁵ And the LORD destroyed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword, before Barak, so that Sisera descended from his chariot, and fled away on foot.

¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles. And all the army of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.

¹⁷ However, 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 between the House of Heber the Kenite).

¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn in, my lord. Turn in to me. Do not fear!” And when he had turned in to her, into her tent, she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹ And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.

²⁰ Again, he said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent. And when any man comes and inquires of you, saying, ‘Is any man there?’ You shall say, ‘No.’”

²¹ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a nail from the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and drove the nail through his temples and into the ground (for he was fast asleep and weary). And he died.

²² And behold, as Barak pursued after Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead; and the nail was in his temples.

²³ So God brought down Jabin, the king of Canaan, that day, before the children of Israel.

²⁴ And the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin, the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaan.