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.

¹⁹ “Kings came^(A), they fought,
    the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,^(B)
    they took no plunder of silver.^(C)
20 From the heavens^(D) the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon^(E) swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!^(F)
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
    galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.^(G)
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^(H) be Jael,^(I)
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,^(J)
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;^(K)
    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.^(L)
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^(M).

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

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