< Judges 5 >
1 Then sang Deborah with Barak the son of Abino'am on that day, saying,
2 When depravity had broken out in Israel, then did the people offer themselves willingly; [therefore] praise ye the Lord.
3 Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; I—unto the Lord will I sing; I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4 Lord, at thy going forth out of Seir, at thy marching along out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, also the heavens dropped, also the clouds dropped water.
5 The mountains melted away because of the presence of the Lord, yonder Sinai, because of the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar the son of 'Anath, in the days of Ja'el, the highways were unoccupied, and those who travelled on roads walked through crooked by-paths.
7 Desolate were the open towns in Israel, they were desolate, until that I arose, Deborah, that I arose a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods, then was there war in the gates: was there a shield seen or a spear among forty thousand in Israel?
9 My heart [belongeth] to the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people: praise ye the Lord.
10 Ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and ye who walk on the way, utter praise!
11 [Urged on] by the voice of those who divide [the flocks] between the watering wells, there shall they rehearse the benefits of the Lord, the benefits toward his open towns in Israel; [for] now go down [again] to the gates the people of the Lord.
12 Awake, awake, Deborah! awake, awake, utter a song! up, Barak, and lead away thy captives, son of Abino'am.
13 Then obtained dominion a few that had escaped for the nobles among the people—the Lord gave me dominion over the mighty.
14 They whose root is out of Ephraim were against 'Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, with thy armies; out of Machir came down lawgivers, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.
15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yea Issachar, the support of Barak; into the valley he hastened down in his train; [but] at the streams of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.
16 Why didst thou sit among the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the flocks? At the streams of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gil'ad abode beyond the Jordan; and Dan—why would he tarry in ships? Asher remained on the seashore, and abode near his bays.
18 Zebulun is a people that jeoparded its life unto death, and Naphtali—on the high places of the [battle] field.
19 There came kings, [and] fought, then fought the kings of Canaan, in Ta'anach by the waters of Megiddo: gain of money they took not away.
20 From heaven they fought—the stars in their courses fought against Sissera.
21 The stream of Kishon swept them away, that ancient stream, the stream of Kishon: step along, O my soul, in victorious strength.
22 Then were crushed the hoofs of the horses, through the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones.
23 Curse ye Meroz, saith the messenger of the Lord, yea, curse ye bitterly its inhabitants; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord among the mighty.
24 Blessed above [other] women shall be Ja'el the wife of Cheber the Kenite, above [other] women [dwelling] in the tent may she be blessed.
25 Water he asked, milk she gave [him]: in a lordly dish she brought him cream.
26 Her hand she put forth to the nail, and her right hand to the laborious workmen's hammer; and she hammered Sissera, she struck his head, and crushed and smote through his temple.
27 Between her feet he bent, he fell, he lay; between her feet he bent, he fell: where he had bent, there he fell down, bereft of life.
28 Out of the window looked and moaned the mother of Sissera, through the lattice, Why tarrieth his chariot so long in coming? why lag the wheels of his chariot?
29 The wise among her ladies answered her, she also returned a reply to herself.
30 Will they not find, —divide booty? one maiden, two maidens for every man, a booty of colored garments for Sissera, a booty of colored embroidered garments, colored, double-worked garments round the necks of the captives!
31 Thus may perish all thy enemies, O Lord; but may those that love him be as the rising of the sun in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
