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Judges 5:1-31 — The Song of Deborah

Judg.5.1-31

¹On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: ²When leaders took the lead in Israel, when the people volunteered, bless Yahweh. ³Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers. I, yes I, will sing to Yahweh; I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁴Yahweh, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also poured, and the clouds poured down water. ⁵The mountains melted before Yahweh, even Sinai before Yahweh, the God of Israel. ⁶In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and travelers went by roundabout paths. ⁷Village life ceased in Israel, it ceased, until I arose, Deborah, until I arose, a mother in Israel. ⁸They chose new gods; then war was at the gates. Was a shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel? ⁹My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless Yahweh. ¹⁰You who ride white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who travel the road, speak of it. ¹¹Far from the noise of archers at the watering places, there they recount the righteous acts of Yahweh, the righteous deeds of his villagers in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates. ¹²Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, son of Abinoam! ¹³Then the remnant came down to the nobles; the people of Yahweh came down for me against the mighty. ¹⁴From Ephraim came those whose root was in Amalek; after you came Benjamin among your peoples. From Machir came down commanders, and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal's staff. ¹⁵The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar also was with Barak. Into the valley they rushed at his heels. In the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁶Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher sat by the seashore and remained by his harbors. ¹⁸Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even unto death, and Naphtali also on the heights of the field. ¹⁹Kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver. ²⁰From heaven the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera. ²¹The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, in strength! ²²Then the horses' hoofs pounded from the galloping, the galloping of his stallions. ²³“Curse Meroz,” said the angel of Yahweh. “Curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the help of Yahweh, to the help of Yahweh against the mighty.” ²⁴Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed among tent-dwelling women. ²⁵He asked for water; she gave him milk. In a lordly bowl she brought him curds. ²⁶She stretched out her hand to the tent peg, her right hand to the workmen's hammer. She struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple. ²⁷Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—destroyed. ²⁸Through the window Sisera's mother looked out and wailed, through the lattice: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?” ²⁹Her wisest ladies answer her; indeed, she repeats her own words to herself: ³⁰“Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? A girl, two girls for each man ; spoil of dyed garments for Sisera, spoil of dyed garments embroidered, a dyed garment, two embroidered pieces for the necks of the plunderers.” ³¹So may all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but may those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its strength . And the land had rest for forty years.

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4/11/2026

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