31After him came Shamgar g-son of Anath,-g who slew six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too was a champion of Israel.
4 The Israelites again did what was offensive to the LORD—Ehud now being dead. 2And the LORD surrendered them to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. His army commander was Sisera, whose base was Harosheth-goiim. 3The Israelites cried out to the LORD; for he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he had oppressed Israel ruthlessly for twenty years.
4Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess; she led 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 come to her for decisions.
6She summoned Barak son of Abinoam, of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has commanded: Go, march up to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7And I will draw Sisera, Jabin’s army commander, with his chariots and his troops, toward you up to the Wadi Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hands.” 8But Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; if not, I will not go.” 9“Very well, I will go with you,” she answered. “However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for then the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. 10Barak then mustered Zebulun and Naphtali at Kedesh; ten thousand men marched up a-after him;-a and Deborah also went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite had separated b-from the other Kenites,-b descendants of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent at Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12Sisera was informed that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13So Sisera ordered all his chariots—nine hundred iron chariots—and all the troops he had to move from Harosheth-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. 14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! This is the day on which the LORD will deliver Sisera into your hands: the LORD is marching before you.” Barak charged down Mount Tabor, followed by the ten thousand men, 15and the LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and army into a panic c-before the onslaught of Barak.-c Sisera leaped from his chariot and fled on foot 16as Barak pursued the chariots and the soldiers as far as Harosheth-goiim. All of Sisera’s soldiers fell by the sword; not a man was left.
17Sisera, meanwhile, had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was friendship between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. 18Jael came out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord, come in here, do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. 19He said to her, “Please let me have some water; I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk and gave him some to drink; and she covered him again. 20He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anybody comes and asks you if there is anybody here, say ‘No.”’ 21Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent pin and grasped the mallet. When he was fast asleep from exhaustion, she approached him stealthily and drove the pin through his temple till it went down to the ground. Thus he died.
22Now Barak appeared in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to greet him and said, “Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.” He went inside with her, and there Sisera was lying dead, with the pin in his temple.
23On that day God subdued King Jabin of Hazor before the Israelites. 24The hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.
5 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
2aWhen b-locks go untrimmed-b in Israel,
When people dedicate themselves—
Bless the LORD!
3Hear, O kings! Give ear, O potentates!
I will sing, will sing to the LORD,
Will hymn the LORD, the God of Israel.
4O LORD, when You came forth from Seir,
Advanced from the country of Edom,
The earth trembled;
The heavens dripped,
Yea, the clouds dripped water,
5The mountains quakedc—
Before the LORD, Him of Sinai,
Before the LORD, God of Israel.
6In the days of Shamgar d-son of Anath,-d
In the days of Jael, caravanse ceased,
And wayfarers went
By roundabout paths.
7Deliverance ceased,
Ceased in Israel,
Till youf arose, O Deborah,
Arose, O mother, in Israel!
8When they chose new gods,
g-Was there a fighter then in the gates?-g
No shield or spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel!
9My heart is with Israel’s leaders,
With the dedicated of the people—
Bless the LORD!
10You riders on tawny she-asses,
You who sit on saddle rugs,
And you wayfarers, declare it!
11Louder than the h-sound of archers,-h
There among the watering places
Let them chant the gracious acts of the LORD,
His gracious deliverance of Israel.
Then did the people of the LORD
March down to the gates!
12Awake, awake, O Deborah!
Awake, awake, strike up the chant!
Arise, O Barak;
Take your captives, O son of Abinoam!
13Then was the remnant made victor over the mighty,
The LORD’s peoplei won my victory over the warriors.
14From Ephraim came they whose roots are in Amalek;
After you, your kin Benjamin;
From Machir came down leaders,
From Zebulun such as hold the marshal’s staff.
15And Issachar’s chiefs were with Deborah;
As Barak, so was Issachar—
Rushing after him into the valley.
Among the clans of Reuben
Were great decisions of heart.
16Why then did you stay among the sheepfolds
And listen as they pipe for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
Were great searchings of heart!
17Gilead tarried beyond the Jordan;
And Dan—why did he linger j-by the ships?-j
Asher remained at the seacoast
And tarried at his landings.
18Zebulun is a people k-that mocked at death,-k
Naphtali—on the open heights.
19Then the kings came, they fought:
The kings of Canaan fought
At Taanach, by Megiddo’s waters—
They got no spoil of silver.
20The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
21The torrent Kishon swept theml away,
The raging torrent, the torrent Kishon.
March on, my soul, with courage!
22Then the horses’ hoofs pounded
m-As headlong galloped the steeds.-m
23“Curse Meroz!” said the angel of the LORD.
“Bitterly curse its inhabitants,
Because they came not to the aid of the LORD,
To the aid of the LORD amongn the warriors.”
24Most blessed of women be Jael,
Wife of Heber the Kenite,
Most blessed of women in tents.
25He asked for water, she offered milk;
In a princely bowl she brought him curds.
26Her [left] hand reached for the tent pin,
Her right for the workmen’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, crushed his head,
Smashed and pierced his temple.
27At her feet he sank, lay outstretched,
At her feet he sank, lay still;
Where he sank, there he lay—destroyed.
28Through the window peered Sisera’s mother,
Behind the lattice she whined:o
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why so late the clatter of his wheels?”
29The wisest of her ladies give answer;
She, too, replies to herself:
30“They must be dividing the spoil they have found:
A damsel or two for each man,
Spoil of dyed cloths for Sisera,
Spoil of embroidered cloths,
A couple of embroidered cloths
Round every neck as spoil.”
31So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But may His friends be as the sun rising in might!
And the land was tranquil forty years.
6 Then the Israelites did what was offensive to the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years. 2The hand of the Midianites prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian, the Israelites a-provided themselves with refuges in the caves and strongholds of the mountains.-a 3After the Israelites had done their sowing, Midian, Amalek, and the Kedemites would come up and raid them; 4they would attack them, destroyb the produce of the land all the way to Gaza, and leave no means of sustenance in Israel, not a sheep or an ox or an ass. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, swarming as thick as locusts; they and their camels were innumerable. Thus they would invade the land and ravage it. 6Israel was reduced to utter misery by the Midianites, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.
7When the Israelites cried to the LORD on account of Midian, 8the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I brought you up out of Egypt and freed you from the house of bondage. 9I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all your oppressors; I drove them out before you, and gave you their land. 10And I said to you, ‘I the LORD am your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you did not obey Me.”
11An angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was then beating out wheat inside a winepress in order to keep it safe from the Midianites. 12The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, valiant warrior!” 13Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this befallen us? Where are all His wondrous deeds about which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Truly the LORD brought us up from Egypt’? Now the LORD has abandoned us and delivered us into the hands of Midian!” 14The LORD turned to him and
