Judges 5

New International Version

The Song of Deborah

5 On that day Deborah^(A) and Barak son of Abinoam^(B) sang this song:^(C)

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)
⁵The 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)
⁷Villagers in Israel would not fight;
    they held back until I, Deborah,^(Q) arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸God 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.
⁹My 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 ¹¹the 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.
¹⁴Some 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.
¹⁵The 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.
¹⁶Why 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.
¹⁷Gilead^(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.
¹⁸The 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)
²⁰From the heavens^(AU) the stars fought,
    from their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹The river Kishon^(AV) swept them away,
    the age-old river, the river Kishon.
    March on, my soul; be strong!^(AW)
²²Then 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.
²⁵He asked for water, and she gave him milk;^(BB)
    in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
²⁶Her 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)
²⁷At 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?’
²⁹The 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)

Then the land had peace^(BM) forty years.

Footnotes

Judges 5:3 Or of
Judges 5:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Judges 5:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Judges 5:16 Or the campfires; or the saddlebags

Matthew 24:29-51

New International Version

²⁹“Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’^[a]^(A)

³⁰“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^[b] will mourn^(B) when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,^(C) with power and great glory.^[c] ³¹And he will send his angels^(D) with a loud trumpet call,^(E) and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³²“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[d] is near, right at the door.^(F) ³⁴Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.^(G) ³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.^(H)

The Day and Hour Unknown^(I)^(J)

³⁶“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[e] but only the Father.^(K) ³⁷As it was in the days of Noah,^(L) so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,^(M) up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.^(N) ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.^(O) ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.^(P)

⁴²“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.^(Q) ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,^(R) he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready,^(S) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise servant,^(T) whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.^(U) ⁴⁷Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.^(V) ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.^(W) ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(X)