Judges 5
1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
2 “When locks of hair flowed freely in Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves, bless the LORD!
3 Listen, kings; pay heed, rulers: I will sing to the LORD, I will make music to the LORD, the God of Israel.
4 LORD, when you came out from Seir, when you marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled; the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down water.
5 The mountains melted before the LORD, Sinai itself, before the LORD, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers on the paths took winding routes.
7 The villagers in Israel disappeared; they disappeared until I arose, I, Deborah, until I arose as a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods; then war came to the gates. No shield or spear could be seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with Israel’s commanders, with those among the people who willingly offered themselves. Bless the LORD!
10 You who ride white donkeys, you who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, speak!
11 To the sound of archers at the watering places, there they recount the LORD’s righteous acts, the righteous acts of his villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Rise, Barak, and take your captives, son of Abinoam!
13 Then the remnant came down to the nobles of the people; the LORD came down for me among the warriors.
14 From Ephraim came those whose roots are in Amalek; after you, Benjamin, among your people. From Machir came down commanders, and from Zebulun, those who carry the marshal’s staff.
15 My commanders in Issachar were with Deborah; Issachar too followed Barak into the valley, at his heels. Among the divisions of Reuben, great were the heart’s resolve.
16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, listening to the fluting of the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben, great were the heart’s deliberations.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher sat on the seacoast and stayed by its inlets.
18 Zebulun was a people who risked their lives to the death, and Naphtali on the heights of the field.
19 Kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo. They took no silver plunder.
20 From heaven the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on with strength, my soul!
22 Then the horses’ hooves thundered, as their stallions galloped, galloped.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD; ‘curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the LORD’s aid, to the LORD’s aid among the warriors.’
24 May Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, be blessed above women; may she be blessed above women in the tent.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk. In a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him curds.
26 She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workers’ hammer. She struck Sisera, crushed his head, wounded him and pierced his temple.
27 Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell, slain.
28 Through the window Sisera’s mother leaned out and wailed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so late in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots lag?’
29 Her wisest princesses answer her, and she herself answers her own words:
30 ‘Surely they are finding and dividing the plunder: a girl, two girls for every man; colored cloth for Sisera, plunder of embroidered cloth, richly embroidered colored cloth for the necks of the plunderers.’
31 So may all your enemies perish, LORD! But may those who love you be like the sun rising in its strength.” And the land was at peace for forty years.
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