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.

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,^(M)
    in the days of Jael,^(N) the highways^(O) were abandoned;
    travelers took to winding paths.^(P)
7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;
    they held back until I, Deborah,^(Q) arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸ God chose new leaders^(R)
    when war came to the city gates,^(S)
but not a shield or spear^(T) was seen
    among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹ My heart is with Israel’s princes,
    with the willing volunteers^(U) among the people.
    Praise the Lord!

¹⁰ “You who ride on white donkeys,^(V)
    sitting on your saddle blankets,
    and you who walk along the road,
consider ¹¹ the voice of the singers^[b] at the watering places.
    They recite the victories^(W) of the Lord,
    the victories of his villagers in Israel.

“Then the people of the Lord
    went down to the city gates.^(X)
12 ‘Wake up,^(Y) wake up, Deborah!^(Z)
    Wake up, wake up, break out in song!
Arise, Barak!^(AA)
    Take captive your captives,^(AB) son of Abinoam.’

¹³ “The remnant of the nobles came down;
    the people of the Lord came down to me against the mighty.
¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim,^(AC) whose roots were in Amalek;^(AD)
    Benjamin^(AE) was with the people who followed you.
From Makir^(AF) captains came down,
    from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s^[c] staff.
¹⁵ The princes of Issachar^(AG) were with Deborah;^(AH)
    yes, Issachar was with Barak,^(AI)
    sent under his command into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁶ Why did you stay among the sheep pens^[d](AJ)
    to hear the whistling for the flocks?^(AK)
In the districts of Reuben
    there was much searching of heart.
¹⁷ Gilead^(AL) stayed beyond the Jordan.
    And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?
Asher^(AM) remained on the coast^(AN)
    and stayed in his coves.
¹⁸ The people of Zebulun^(AO) risked their very lives;
    so did Naphtali^(AP) on the terraced fields.^(AQ)

¹⁹ “Kings came^(AR), they fought,
    the kings of Canaan fought.
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo,^(AS)
    they took no plunder of silver.^(AT)
20 From the heavens^(AU) the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ The river Kishon^(AV) swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!^(AW)
22 Then thundered the horses’ hooves—
    galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.^(AX)
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^(AY) be Jael,^(AZ)
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,^(BA)
    most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk;^(BB)
    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.^(BC)
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^(BD).

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

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

²⁴ How many are your works,^(A) Lord!
    In wisdom you made^(B) them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.^(C)
25 There is the sea,^(D) vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.^(E)
26 There the ships^(F) go to and fro,
    and Leviathan,^(G) which you formed to frolic^(H) there.^(I)

²⁷ All creatures look to you
    to give them their food^(J) at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied^(K) with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,^(L)
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.^(M)
30 When you send your Spirit,^(N)
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord^(O) endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works^(P)—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,^(Q)
    who touches the mountains,^(R) and they smoke.^(S)

³³ I will sing^(T) to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice^(U) in the Lord.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish^(V) from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.^(W)

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.^[a](X)