Judges 4:1-24
4 Then the sons of Israel again began to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes now that Eʹhud was dead.+
2 So Jehovah sold+ them into the hand of Jaʹbin the king of Caʹnaan, who reigned in Haʹzor;+ and the chief* of his army was Sisʹe·ra,+ and he was dwelling in Ha·roʹsheth+ of the nations.*
3 And the sons of Israel began to cry out to Jehovah,+ because he had nine hundred war chariots with iron scythes,*+ and he himself oppressed the sons of Israel+ with harshness twenty years.
4 Now Debʹo·rah,* a prophetess,+ the wife of Lapʹpi·doth, was judging Israel at that particular time.
5 And she was dwelling under Debʹo·rah’s palm tree between Raʹmah+ and Bethʹel+ in the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im; and the sons of Israel would go up to her for judgment.
6 And she proceeded to send and call Baʹrak+ the son of A·binʹo·am out of Keʹdesh-naphʹta·li+ and to say to him: “Has not Jehovah the God of Israel given the command? ‘Go and you must spread yourself out on Mount Taʹbor,+ and you must take with you ten thousand men out of the sons of Naphʹta·li+ and out of the sons of Zebʹu·lun.+
7 And I shall certainly draw to you+ at the torrent valley of Kiʹshon+ Sisʹe·ra+ the chief of Jaʹbin’s+ army and his war chariots and his crowd, and I shall indeed give him into your hand.’”+
8 At this Baʹrak said to her: “If you will go with me, I also shall certainly go; but if you will not go with me, I shall not go.”
9 To this she said: “Without fail I shall go with you. Just the same, the beautifying thing will not become yours on the way that you are going, for it will be into the hand of a woman+ that Jehovah will sell* Sisʹe·ra.” With that Debʹo·rah got up and went with Baʹrak to Keʹdesh.+
10 And Baʹrak began to call Zebʹu·lun+ and Naphʹta·li together to Keʹdesh, and ten thousand men went on up following his steps;+ and Debʹo·rah went on up with him.
11 Incidentally Heʹber+ the Kenʹite had separated from the Kenʹites,+ the sons of Hoʹbab, whose son-in-law Moses was,*+ and he had his tent pitched near the big tree in Za·a·nanʹnim, which is at Keʹdesh.
12 Then they reported to Sisʹe·ra that Baʹrak the son of A·binʹo·am+ had gone up to Mount Taʹbor.+
13 At once Sisʹe·ra called together all his war chariots, the nine hundred war chariots with iron scythes,+ and all the people that were with him, out of Ha·roʹsheth of the nations to the torrent valley of Kiʹshon.+
14 Debʹo·rah now said to Baʹrak: “Get up, for this is the day that Jehovah will certainly give Sisʹe·ra into your hand. Is it not Jehovah that has gone out before you?”+ And Baʹrak went descending from Mount Taʹbor with ten thousand men behind him.
15 And Jehovah began to throw Sisʹe·ra and all his war chariots and all the camp into confusion+ by the edge of the sword before Baʹrak. Finally Sisʹe·ra got down off the chariot and took to flight on foot.
16 And Baʹrak chased after+ the war chariots+ and the camp as far as Ha·roʹsheth of the nations, so that all the camp of Sisʹe·ra fell by the edge of the sword. Not as much as one remained.+
17 As for Sisʹe·ra,+ he fled on foot to the tent of Jaʹel+ the wife of Heʹber the Kenʹite,+ for there was peace between Jaʹbin the king of Haʹzor+ and the household of Heʹber the Kenʹite.
18 Then Jaʹel came on out to meet Sisʹe·ra and said to him: “Turn this way, my lord, turn this way to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent. Later she covered him with a blanket.
19 In time he said to her: “Give me, please, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” Accordingly she opened a skin bottle+ of milk and gave him a drink,+ after which she covered him.
20 And he went on to say to her: “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and it must occur that if anybody comes and does ask you and says, ‘Is there a man here?’ you must then say, ‘No!’”
21 And Jaʹel the wife of Heʹber proceeded to take a pin of the tent and to put the hammer into her hand. Then she went to him stealthily and drove the pin into his temples+ and beat it into the earth, while he was fast asleep* and weary. So he died.+
22 And, look! there was Baʹrak pursuing Sisʹe·ra. Jaʹel now came on out to meet him and said to him: “Come and I shall show you the man you are looking for.” So in he went to her, and, look! there was Sisʹe·ra fallen dead, with the pin in his temples.
23 Thus God subdued+ Jaʹbin the king of Caʹnaan before the sons of Israel on that day.
24 And the hand of the sons of Israel went on getting harder and harder against Jaʹbin the king of Caʹnaan,+ until they had cut off Jaʹbin the king+ of Caʹnaan.
Footnotes
^ Or, “Harosheth-ha-goiim.”
^ “And the chief of.” Heb., wesarʹ; LXX, “prince (governor)”; Vg, “leader.”
^ Lit., “war chariots of iron.”
^ Meaning “Bee.”
^ “Deliver up,” LXXVg.
^ Or, “Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law.”
^ Or, “was snoring.”
