Deborah and Barak

1And the sons of Israel again did evil in the eyes of YHWH, and Ehud was dead. 2And YHWH sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. And the commander of his army was Sisera, and he dwelt in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3And the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH, for nine hundred chariots of iron were unto him, and he oppressed the sons of Israel harshly twenty years.

4And Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she was judging Israel at that time. 5And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and between Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6And she sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh of Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not YHWH, God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and draw out at Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, 7and I will draw out against you at the River Kishon Sisera, commander of the army of Jabin, and his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hand’?”

8And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

9And she said, “I will surely go with you; only that there will not be glory for you in the journey that you are taking, for into the hand of a woman YHWH will sell Sisera.” And Deborah went and arose with Barak to Kedesh. 10And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him.

11And Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites of the sons of Hobab the father-in-law† of Moses, and he pitched his tent near a great tree in Zaanannim, which is beside Kedesh.

12And they reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon.

14And Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that YHWH has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not YHWH gone out before you?”

And Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men following him. 15And YHWH routed Sisera, and all the chariots, and all the army, with the mouth of the sword before the face of Barak; and Sisera came down from the chariot and fled on foot.

16And Barak pursued after the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the mouth of the sword; not even one remained.

Jael Kills Sisera

17And Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and between the house of Heber the Kenite. 18And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me. Fear not.” And he turned aside with her into the tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

19And he said to her, “Give me to drink, please, a little water, for I am thirsty.” And she opened a jug of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him.

20And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ You shall say, ‘No.’”

21And Jael the wife of Heber took a peg of the tent, and she put the hammer in her hand, and she went to him in secrecy and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground. For he was fast asleep and weary, and he died.

22And behold, Barak pursued Sisera, and Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” And he went with her, and there Sisera lay dead, with the peg in his temple.

23And God subdued on that day Jabin king of Canaan before the faces of the sons of Israel. 24And the hand of the sons of Israel grew stronger, going on and becoming hard against Jabin king of Canaan, until that they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.