Judges 5:1–31

¹And on that day Deb′o‧rah along with Ba′rak the son of A‧bin′o‧am broke out in song, saying:

²“For letting the hair hang loose in Israel [for war],
For the people’s volunteering,
BLESS​ Jehovah.

³Listen, ​YOU​ kings; give ear, ​YOU​ high officials:
I to Jehovah, yes, I, will sing.
I shall make melody to Jehovah, Israel’s God.

⁴Jehovah, at your going forth from Se′ir,
At your marching out of the field of E′dom,
Earth rocked, heavens also dripped,
Clouds also dripped with water.

⁵Mountains flowed away from the face of Jehovah,
This Si′nai away from the face of Jehovah, Israel’s God.

⁶In the days of Sham′gar the son of A′nath,
In the days of Ja′el, pathways had no traffic,
And the travelers of roadways would travel by roundabout pathways.

⁷The dwellers in open country ceased, in Israel they ceased,
Until I, Deb′o‧rah, rose up,
Until I rose up as a mother in Israel.

⁸They proceeded to choose new gods.
It was then there was war in the gates.
A shield could not be seen, nor a lance,
Among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹My heart is for the commanders of Israel,
Who were volunteers among the people.
BLESS​ Jehovah.

¹⁰YOU​ riders on yellowish‐red she‐asses,
YOU​ who sit on rich carpets,
And ​YOU​ who walk on the road,
Consider!

¹¹Some of the voices of the water distributors among the places of drawing water,
There they began to recount the righteous acts of Jehovah,
The righteous acts of his dwellers in open country in Israel.
It was then Jehovah’s people made their way down to the gates.

¹²Awake, awake, O Deb′o‧rah;
Awake, awake, utter a song!
Rise up, Ba′rak, and lead your captives away, you son of A‧bin′o‧am!

¹³It was then the survivors came down to the majestic ones;
Jehovah’s people came down to me against the mighty ones.

¹⁴Out of E′phra‧im was their origin in the low plain,
With you, O Benjamin, among your peoples.
Out of Ma′chir the commanders went down,
And out of Zeb′u‧lun those handling the equipment of a scribe.

¹⁵And the princes in Is′sa‧char were with Deb′o‧rah,
And as Is′sa‧char, so was Ba′rak.
Into the low plain he was sent on foot.
Among the divisions of Reu′ben great were the searchings of the heart.

¹⁶Why did you sit down between the two saddlebags,
To listen to the pipings for the flocks?
For the divisions of Reu′ben there were great searchings of the heart.

¹⁷Gil′e‧ad kept to his residence on the other side of the Jordan;
And Dan, why did he continue to dwell for the time in ships?
Ash′er sat idle at the seashore,
And by his landing places he kept residing.

¹⁸Zeb′u‧lun was a people that scorned their souls to the point of death;
Naph′ta‧li also, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹Kings came, they fought;
It was then that the kings of Ca′naan fought
In Ta′a‧nach by the waters of Me‧gid′do.
No gain of silver did they take.

²⁰From heaven did the stars fight,
From their orbits they fought against Sis′e‧ra.

²¹The torrent of Ki′shon washed them away,
The torrent of ancient days, the torrent of Ki′shon.
You went treading down strength, O my soul.

²²It was then that the hoofs of horses pawed
Because of dashings upon dashings of his stallions.

²³‘CURSE​ Me′roz,’ said the angel of Jehovah,
‘CURSE​ its inhabitants incessantly,
For they did not come to the assistance of Jehovah,
To the assistance of Jehovah with the mighty ones.’

²⁴Ja′el the wife of He′ber the Ken′ite will be most blessed among women,
Among women in the tent she will be most blessed.

²⁵Water he asked, milk she gave;
In the large banquet bowl of majestic ones she presented curdled milk.

²⁶Her hand to the tent pin she then thrust out,
And her right hand to the mallet of hard workers.
And she hammered Sis′e‧ra, she pierced his head through,
And she broke apart and cut up his temples.

²⁷Between her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay down;
Between her feet he collapsed, he fell;
Where he collapsed, there he fell overcome.

²⁸From the window a woman looked out and kept watching for him,
The mother of Sis′e‧ra from the lattice,
‘Why has his war chariot delayed in coming?
Why must the hoofbeats of his chariots be so late?’

²⁹The wise ones of her noble ladies would answer her,
Yes, she too would talk back to herself with her own sayings,
³⁰‘Ought they not to find, ought they not to distribute spoil,
A womb—two wombs to every able‐bodied man,
Spoil of dyed stuffs for Sis′e‧ra, spoil of dyed stuffs,
An embroidered garment, dyed stuff, two embroidered garments
For the necks of [men of] spoil?’

³¹Thus let all your enemies perish, O Jehovah,
And let your lovers be as when the sun goes forth in its mightiness.”

And the land had no further disturbance for forty years.