Judges

¹ On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

² “When the princes take the lead in Israel,

when the people volunteer,

bless the LORD.

³ Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes!

I will sing to the LORD;

I will sing praise to the LORD,

the God of Israel.

⁴ O LORD, when You went out from Seir,

when You marched from the land of Edom,

the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain,

and the clouds poured down water.

⁵ The mountains quaked before the LORD,

the One of Sinai,

before the LORD,

the God of Israel.

⁶ In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael,

the highways were deserted

and the travelers took the byways.

⁷ Life in the villages ceased;

it ended in Israel,

until I, Deborah, arose,

a mother in Israel.

⁸ When they chose new gods,

then war came to their gates.

Not a shield or spear was found

among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹ My heart is with the princes of Israel,

with the volunteers among the people.

Bless the LORD!

¹⁰ You who ride white donkeys,

who sit on saddle blankets,

and you who travel the road,

ponder ¹¹ the voices of the singers ^[a]

at the watering places.

There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD,

the righteous deeds of His villagers ^[b] in Israel.

Then the people of the LORD

went down to the gates:

¹² ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah!

Awake, awake, sing a song!

Arise, O Barak,

and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

¹³ Then the survivors came down to the nobles;

the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek;

Benjamin came with your people after you.

The commanders came down from Machir,

the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,

and Issachar was with Barak,

rushing into the valley at his heels.

In the clans of Reuben

there was great indecision. ^[c]

¹⁶ Why did you sit among the sheepfolds

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

In the clans of Reuben

there was great indecision.

¹⁷ Gilead remained beyond the Jordan.

Dan, why did you linger by the ships?

Asher stayed at the coast

and remained in his harbors.

¹⁸ Zebulun was a people who risked their lives;

Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹ Kings came and fought;

then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach

by the waters of Megiddo,

but they took no plunder of silver.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought;

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The River Kishon swept them away,

the ancient river, the River Kishon.

March on, O my soul, in strength!

²² Then the hooves of horses thundered—

the mad galloping of his stallions.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD.

‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants;

for they did not come to help the LORD,

to help the LORD against the mighty.’

²⁴ Most blessed among women is Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk.

In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶ She reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera and crushed his skull;

she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷ At her feet he collapsed, he fell,

there he lay still;

at her feet he collapsed, he fell;

where he collapsed, there he fell dead.

²⁸ Sisera’s mother looked through the window;

she peered through the lattice and lamented:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

²⁹ Her wisest ladies answer;

indeed she keeps telling herself,

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—

a girl or two for each warrior,

a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera,

the spoil of embroidered garments

for the neck of the looter?’

³¹ So may all your enemies perish,

O LORD!

But may those who love You

shine like the sun at its brightest.”

And the land had rest for forty years.