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Judges 4:1-24 — Deborah and Barak

Judg.4.1-24

¹After Ehud died, the Israelites again did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD . ²So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. ³Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. ⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. ⁵She used to sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, "Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you: 'Go, march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun, ⁷and I will draw out Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, along with his chariots and his troops, to the River Kishon, and I will give him into your hand'?" ⁸Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹She said, “I will certainly go with you. Nevertheless, the journey you are taking will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up following him; and Deborah went up with him. ¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh. ¹²When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor, ¹³Sisera summoned all his chariots—nine hundred iron chariots—and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon. ¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. ¹⁵And the LORD threw Sisera, all his chariots, and his entire army into a panic by the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. ¹⁶But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and the entire army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a single man was left. ¹⁷Meanwhile, Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. ²⁰He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, 'Is there a man here?' you shall say, 'No.'” ²¹But Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him. She drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground while he was fast asleep from exhaustion; and so he died. ²²Just then, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple. ²³So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

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4/11/2026

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