< Judges 4 >
1 And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, when Ehud was dead.
2 And Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose army was Sisera who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not Jehovah, the God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and approach to mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun?
7 And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, to thee, to the river Kishon, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hand.
8 And Barak said to her, If thou will go with me, then I will go, but if thou will not go with me, I will not go.
9 And she said, I will surely go with thee. Notwithstanding, the journey that thou take shall not be for thine honor, for Jehovah will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. And there went up ten thousand men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the sons of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh.
12 And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon.
14 And Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which Jehovah has delivered Sisera into thy hand. Has not Jehovah gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. And Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles. And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left.
17 However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And he turned in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 And he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of thee, and says, Is there any man here? that thou shall say, No.
21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep, so he fainted and died.
22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seek. And he came to her, and, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples.
23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.
24 And the hand of the sons of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
