Judges5

¹Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

²For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly, Bless ye Jehovah.

³Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto Jehovah; I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel.

⁴Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yea, the clouds dropped water.

⁵The mountains quaked at the presence of Jehovah, Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

⁶In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways.

⁷The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel.

⁸They chose new gods; Then was war in the gates: Was there a shield or spear seen Among forty thousand in Israel?

⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, That offered themselves willingly among the people: Bless ye Jehovah.

¹⁰Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses, Ye that sit on rich carpets, And ye that walk by the way.

¹¹Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah, Even the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates.

¹²Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam.

¹³Then came down a remnant of the nobles and the people; Jehovah came down for me against the mighty.

¹⁴Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek; After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, And out of Zebulun they that handle the marshal’s staff.

¹⁵And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben There were great resolves of heart.

¹⁶Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.

¹⁷Gilead abode beyond the Jordan: And Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, And abode by his creeks.

¹⁸Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death, And Naphtali, upon the high places of the field.

¹⁹The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan, In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo: They took no gain of money.

²⁰From heaven fought the stars, From their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength.

²²Then did the horsehoofs stamp By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.

²³Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, Because they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah against the mighty.

²⁴Blessed above women shall Jael be, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

²⁵He asked water, and she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish.

²⁶She put her hand to the tent-pin, And her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote through his head; Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.

²⁷At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; At her feet he bowed, he fell: Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

²⁸Through the window she looked forth, and cried, The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

²⁹Her wise ladies answered her, Yea, she returned answer to herself,

³⁰Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A damsel, two damsels to every man; To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil?

³¹So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah: But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.