Judges 4:1-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Deborah and Barak
4 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died.(A) 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.(B) 3 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.(C)
4 At that time Deborah, a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. 6 She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Position yourself at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.(D) 7 I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.’ ”(E) 8 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 And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.(F) 10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand warriors went up behind him, and Deborah went up with him.(G)
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Judges 5:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Song of Deborah
5 Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day,(A)
3 Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;
to the Lord I will sing;
I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.(C)
4 Lord, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from the region of Edom,
the earth trembled,
and the heavens poured;
the clouds indeed poured water.(D)
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel.(E)
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, caravans ceased,
and travelers kept to the byways.(F)
7 The peasantry prospered in Israel;
they grew fat on plunder,
because[b] you arose, Deborah,
arose as a mother in Israel.
8 When new gods were chosen,
then war was in the gates.
Was shield or spear to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel?(G)
9 My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless the Lord.
10 Sing of it, you who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on rich carpets,[c]
and you who walk by the way.
11 To the sound of musicians[d] at the watering places,
there they repeat the triumphs of the Lord,
the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.
Then down to the gates marched the people of the Lord.(H)
12 Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,
O son of Abinoam.(I)
13 Then down marched the remnant of the nobles;
the people of the Lord marched down for him[e] against the mighty.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.