Judges
Chapter 4
1 The Israelites once more did bad things that God saw, after Ehud died.
2 God gave them over to Jabin, the king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, lived in Harosheth of the nations.
3 The Israelites cried out to God because he had 900 iron chariots and for twenty years he greatly oppressed the Israelites.
4 Deborah, a prophetess and Lapidoth’s wife, led Israel during that time.
5 She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hills of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her for decisions.
6 She sent for Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh in Naphtali and told him, “Hasn’t God of Israel ordered you to go to Mount Tabor and take ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun with you?”
7 I will bring Sisera, the leader of Jabin’s army, to you at the Kishon River, with his chariots and troops; and I will give him into your control.
8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.”
9 She said, “I will definitely go with you. However, this trip you are making won’t bring you glory, because God will let a woman defeat Sisera.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he led ten thousand troops. Deborah also went with him.
11 Heber the Kenite, from the family of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law, had moved away from the Kenites and set up his tent near Kedesh in the Zaanaim area.
12 They told Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 Sisera brought together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all his men, from Harosheth of the Nations to the Kishon River.
14 Deborah told Barak, “Get up; today is the day God has given Sisera to you. Hasn’t God gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 God confused Sisera and all his chariots and soldiers with the edge of the sword in front of Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and ran away on foot.
16 But Barak chased the chariots and army to Harosheth of the Nations, and all Sisera’s army was killed by the sword; no one survived.
17 However, Sisera ran to Jael’s tent, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and Heber’s family.
18 Jael went to meet Sisera and told him, “Come in, sir, come in to my place; don’t be afraid.” When he went in to her tent, she covered him with a blanket.
19 He said to her, “Please give me some water to drink; I’m thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 He told her again, “Stand at the tent door. If a man comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ you must say ‘No.’”
21 Jael, Heber’s wife, got a tent peg and a hammer, quietly approached him, drove the peg into his head, and pinned it to the ground because he was sound asleep and tired. And so, he died.
22 Look, as Barak chased Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera dead with a nail in his head.
23 God defeated King Jabin of Canaan that day for the Israelites.
24 The Israelites succeeded and overcame King Jabin of Canaan until they had defeated him completely.