Judges
Chapter 5
1 Deborah and Barak, Abinoam’s son, sang on that day, saying,
2 Praise God for rescuing Israel when the people freely gave themselves to help.
3 Listen, kings; pay attention, princes; I will sing to God; I will praise the God of Israel.
4 God, when you came from Seir, when you marched from Edom’s land, the earth shook, and the sky poured rain, the clouds also poured water.
5 The mountains melted before God, including Sinai before the God of Israel.
6 During the time of Shamgar, Anath’s son, and when Jael lived, the main roads were empty, and travelers took side paths.
7 People in the villages stopped, they stopped in Israel, until I, Deborah, stood up, until I stood up as a mother in Israel.
8 They picked new gods; then war broke out in the cities: did anyone see a shield or spear among forty thousand in Israel?
9 I care deeply for the leaders of Israel who volunteered among the people. Praise God.
10 Talk, you who ride white donkeys, you who make decisions, and you who travel on the roads.
11 Those saved from the archers’ noise by the water wells will talk about God’s good deeds, including his kindness to his people in Israel’s villages. Then God’s people will go to the city gates.
12 Wake up, wake up, Deborah: wake up, wake up, sing a song: get up, Barak, and take your prisoners, you son of Abinoam.
13 Then he let those who were left rule over the leaders of the people: God made me rule over the strong.
14 From Ephraim came warriors against Amalek; following you, Benjamin, with your people; from Machir came leaders, and from Zebulun, those skilled with the writer’s pen.
15 The leaders of Issachar supported Deborah; Issachar and Barak too: Barak went down to the valley on foot. The people of Reuben seriously considered their choices.
16 Why did you stay among the sheep pens, listening to the flocks’ cries? The people of Reuben deeply questioned themselves.
17 Gilead lived across the Jordan River, and why did Dan stay with ships? Asher stayed by the sea coast and lived in his harbors.
18 Zebulun and Naphtali were people who risked their lives to the point of death on the high parts of the field.
19 Kings came and fought, then Canaan’s kings fought near Megiddo’s waters; they got no money.
20 They battled from the sky; the stars in their paths battled against Sisera.
21 The Kishon River carried them off, that old river, the Kishon River. Oh, my soul, you have walked on power.
22 Then the horses’ hooves were broken from the galloping, the galloping of the strong ones.
23 God’s messenger said, “Curse Meroz; curse its people harshly because they did not help God fight against the strong enemies.”
24 Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, will be more blessed than other women, and in the tent, she will be the most blessed among women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk; she served cream in a fine bowl.
26 She held the nail and took the worker’s hammer in her right hand. With the hammer she hit Sisera, knocked off his head after she had stabbed and gone through his temples.
27 He knelt at her feet, fell, and lay there. Where he knelt, he fell dead.
28 Sisera’s mother looked out the window and cried through the lattice, “Why is his chariot taking so long to come? Why are the wheels of his chariot delayed?”
29 Her smart women replied to her, yes, she even answered herself.
30 Did they not hurry? Did they not share the loot, with each man getting a girl or two, and Sisera getting colorful embroidered garments, colorful and richly worked cloths, suitable to wrap around the victors’ necks?
31 May all your enemies die, God, but may those who love him shine like the sun at its strongest. And the land was at peace for forty years.