Judges 5:1-31
5 And on that day Debʹo·rah+ along with Baʹrak+ the son of A·binʹo·am+ broke out in song,+ saying:
2 “For letting the hair hang loose in Israel [for war],For the people’s volunteering,+BLESS Jehovah.+
3 Listen, YOU kings;+ give ear, YOU high officials:I to Jehovah, yes, I, will sing.I shall make melody+ to Jehovah, Israel’s God.+
4 Jehovah, at your going forth from Seʹir,+At your marching out of the field of Eʹdom,+Earth rocked,+ heavens also dripped,+Clouds also dripped with water.
5 Mountains flowed* away from the face of Jehovah,+This Siʹnai+ away from the face of Jehovah,+ Israel’s God.+
6 In the days of Shamʹgar+ the son of Aʹnath,In the days of Jaʹel,+ pathways had no traffic,*And the travelers of roadways would travel by roundabout pathways.+
7 The dwellers in open country ceased, in Israel they ceased,+Until I, Debʹo·rah,+ rose up,Until I rose up as a mother in Israel.+
8 They 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.+
9 My heart is for the commanders of Israel,+Who were volunteers among the people.+BLESS Jehovah.+
10 YOU riders on yellowish-red she-asses,+YOU who sit on rich carpets,*And YOU who walk on the road,Consider!+
11 Some 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.
12 Awake, awake, O Debʹo·rah;+Awake, awake, utter a song!+Rise up, Baʹrak,+ and lead your captives* away, you son of A·binʹo·am!+
13 It was then the survivors came down to the majestic ones;Jehovah’s people came down to me against the mighty ones.
14 Out of Eʹphra·im was their origin in the low plain,*+With* you, O Benjamin, among your peoples.Out of Maʹchir+ the commanders went down,And out of Zebʹu·lun those handling the equipment of a scribe.+
15 And the princes in Isʹsa·char+ were with Debʹo·rah,And as Isʹsa·char, so was Baʹrak.+Into the low plain he was sent on foot.+Among the divisions of Reuʹben great were the searchings* of the heart.+
16 Why did you sit down between the two saddlebags,To listen to the pipings for the flocks?+For the divisions of Reuʹben there were great searchings of the heart.+
17 Gilʹe·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?+Ashʹer sat idle at the seashore,And by his landing places he kept residing.+
18 Zebʹu·lun was a people that scorned their souls to the point of death;+Naphʹta·li+ also, on the heights of the field.+
19 Kings came, they fought;It was then that the kings of Caʹnaan fought+In Taʹa·nach+ by the waters of Me·gidʹdo.+No gain of silver did they take.+
20 From heaven did the stars fight,+From their orbits they fought against Sisʹe·ra.
21 The torrent of Kiʹshon washed them away,+The torrent of ancient days,* the torrent of Kiʹshon.+You went treading down strength,+ O my soul.
22 It was then that the hoofs of horses pawed+Because of dashings upon dashings of his stallions.
23 ‘CURSE+ Meʹroz,’ 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.’
24 Jaʹel+ the wife of Heʹber the Kenʹite+ will be most blessed among women,Among women in the tent she will be most blessed.+
25 Water he asked, milk she gave;In the large banquet bowl of majestic ones she presented curdled milk.+
26 Her hand to the tent pin she then thrust out,And her right hand to the mallet of hard workers.+And she hammered Sisʹe·ra, she pierced his head through,+And she broke apart and cut up his temples.
27 Between her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay down;Between her feet he collapsed, he fell;Where he collapsed, there he fell overcome.+
28 From the window a woman looked out and kept watching for him,*The mother of Sisʹe·ra from the lattice,+‘Why has his war chariot delayed in coming?+Why must the hoofbeats of his chariots be so late?’+
29 The 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 Sisʹe·ra, spoil of dyed stuffs,An embroidered garment, dyed stuff, two embroidered garmentsFor the necks of [men of] spoil?’*
31 Thus 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.+
Footnotes
^ “Flowed,” MVg; TSy, “quaked”; LXX, “were shaken.”
^ Lit., “pathways ceased [suffered neglect].”
^ The meaning in M is obscure.
^ “Then the cities of the governors (princes) fought,” LXXB.
^ The meaning in M is obscure; LXXBVg, “sit in judgment.”
^ Or, “captivity,” that is, a body of captives.
^ Or, “after.”
^ “In the low plain,” LXXATh; MLXXBVg, “in Amalek.”
^ “Searchings,” as in vs 16; M, “prescriptions.”
^ “Torrent of ancient days.” Or, “torrent of attack.” Heb., naʹchal qedhu·mimʹ; qedhu·mimʹ is of uncertain meaning; LXXB, “ancient winter-torrent”; Vg, “torrent Cadumim.”
^ “Kept watching [for him],” T; M, “kept lamenting.”
^ Or, “her princesses.” Heb., sa·roh·theyʹha.
^ Soldiers’ expression for captured concubines.
^ “For the neck of a king’s wife,” by a change of one Heb. letter; by a slight change of vowel pointing, “for my neck as spoil”; by a change of a final Heb. letter, “for his neck as spoil.”
^ “Your,” SyVg; MLXX, “his.”
