Judges 4:1-7

Contemporary English Version

Deborah and Barak

4 After the death of Ehud, the Israelites again started disobeying the Lord. ² So the Lord let the Canaanite King Jabin of Hazor conquer Israel. Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, lived in Harosheth-Ha-Goiim. ³ Jabin's army had 900 iron chariots, and for 20 years he made life miserable for the Israelites, until finally they begged the Lord for help.

⁴ Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was a prophet and a leader^[a] of Israel during those days. ⁵ She would sit under Deborah's Palm Tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where Israelites would come and ask her to settle their legal cases.

⁶ One day, Barak the son of Abinoam was in Kedesh in Naphtali, and Deborah sent word for him to come and talk with her. When he arrived, she said:

I have a message for you from the Lord God of Israel! You are to get together an army of 10,000 men from the Naphtali and Zebulun tribes and lead them to Mount Tabor. ⁷ The Lord will trick Sisera into coming out to fight you at the Kishon River. Sisera will be leading King Jabin's army as usual, and they will have their chariots, but the Lord has promised to help you defeat them.