Judges 4
1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelled in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
So the Lord sold them to Jabin, king of Canaan, who ruled from Hazor. His army commander was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
3 And the children of Israel cried to the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
The Israelites cried out to the Lord to help them, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and he cruelly mistreated them for twenty years.
4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet, and she was leading Israel as a judge at that time.
5 And she dwelled under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
She would sit under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for her decisions.
6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said to him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
She sent for Barak, son of Abinoam, from the town of Kedesh in Naphtali and told him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, orders you: ‘Go to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun, and lead them there.
7 And I will draw to you to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.
I will bring Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River, and hand him over to you.”
8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go: but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.
Barak replied, “If you come with me, I'll go; but if you don't come with me, I won't go.”
9 And she said, I will surely go with you: notwithstanding the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
“I'll definitely go with you,” Deborah answered, “but if you're going to take that route then you won't receive any respect, because the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
Barak called up the armies of Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men assembled under his command. Deborah was also there with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent to the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
(Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had set up his tent at the large tree in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.)
12 And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
Sisera heard that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone 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 of Kishon.
so he summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all his men to come from Harosheth-hagoyim to the Kishon River.
14 And Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand: is not the LORD gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
Then Deborah told Barak, “Get going! Today the Lord has handed Sisera to you. Didn't the Lord march out ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, accompanied by ten thousand men.
15 And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a confused panic. Sisera jumped down from his chariot and ran away.
16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell on the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
Barak chased after the chariots and troops all the way to Harosheth-hagoyim. The whole of Sisera's army was killed—not a single man survived.
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.
In the meantime Sisera had run away to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was a peace treaty between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family 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 when he had turned in to her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
Jael went to meet Sisera and told him, “Come on in, my lord, come in with me. Don't be afraid.” So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a thick blanket.
19 And he said to her, Give me, I pray you, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
“Please give me a bit of water to drink, because I'm thirsty,” Sisera asked her. So she opened a skin of milk, let him have a drink, and then covered him up again.
20 Again he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.
“Stand guard at the tent door,” he told her. “If anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is there is anyone here?’ just say no.”
21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
But Jael, Heber's wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and crept quietly over to him where he lay fast sleep and exhausted. She drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.
22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
So when Barak came past, hunting for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said, “Come here, and I'll show you the man you're looking for.” He went in with her, and there lay Sisera, dead, with the tent peg through his temple.
23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
That day God defeated Jabin, king of Canaan, in the presence of the Israelites.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
From then on Israel grew ever more powerful until the destroyed Jabin, king of Hazor.
