The Judges · c. 1230 BC
Chapter 3
Deborah and Jael
“So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh,but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.”Then the land had rest forty years.
For parents
Jael kills Sisera while he sleeps in her tent, driving a tent peg through the side of his head with a hammer (Judges 4:21–22), and Deborah’s song tells it again (5:26–27). Before that, Sisera’s whole army falls by the sword as Barak chases it, and not one man is left (4:15–16). At the end, Sisera’s mother pictures his men dividing what they have taken, including captured women shared out as plunder (5:30).
After died, the again did what was evil in the ’s eyes. The Lord sold them into the power of king of , who reigned in . Jabin’s army was led by , who lived in . The Israelites cried out to the Lord, because their enemy had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had ground the Israelites down.
At that time Israel’s was , a , the wife of . She lived under Deborah’s palm tree, between and in the hill country of , and the Israelites came up to her there to have their cases judged.
She sent for the son of , from in . She told him, “Hasn’t the Lord, the God of Israel, given this command? ‘Go and lead the way to , and take ten thousand men of Naphtali and with you. I will bring Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, out to you at the , with his chariots and his great army, and I will hand him over to you.’”
Barak said to her, “If you’ll go with me, then I’ll go. But if you won’t go with me, I won’t go.”
“I will certainly go with you,” she said. “But the journey you’re taking won’t bring you honor, because the Lord will sell Sisera into a woman’s hands.” Then Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Barak called the men of Zebulun and Naphtali together at Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah went up with him.
Now the had broken away from the rest of the Kenites, who were the family of , ’ brother-in-law. He had gone as far as the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh, and pitched his tent there.
Word reached Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera brought together all his chariots, all nine hundred iron chariots, and all the men he had, and led them out of Harosheth of the Gentiles to the Kishon River.
Deborah said to Barak, “Go! Today is the day. The Lord has put Sisera in your hands. Hasn’t the Lord gone out ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men followed him.
As Barak attacked with the sword, the Lord threw Sisera, all his chariots and all his army into confusion. Sisera left his chariot and ran away on foot.
Barak chased the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth of the Gentiles, and all of Sisera’s army fell by the sword. Not one man was left.
Sisera, though, had fled on foot. He headed for the tent of , Heber’s wife, because Heber’s family was at peace with Jabin king of Hazor.
Jael went out to meet Sisera. “Come in, my lord,” she said to him. “Come in here with me. Don’t be afraid.” He went into the tent with her, and she covered him with a rug.
“Please give me a little water to drink,” he said to her. “I’m thirsty.” She opened a container of milk and gave him some to drink. Then she covered him over.
He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent. If anyone comes by and asks you, ‘Is there any man here?’ tell them, ‘No.’”
Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and picked up a hammer, and she went quietly up to him. He was in a deep sleep. She drove the peg into the side of his head, and it went through into the ground. He fainted, and he died.
Barak came chasing after Sisera, and Jael came out to meet Barak. “Come,” she told him, “I’ll show you the man you’re after.” He came to her, and there lay Sisera, dead. The tent peg was in the side of his head.
On that day God brought Jabin king of Canaan down in front of the Israelites. The Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin until they destroyed him.
That day, Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang a song:
Because Israel’s leaders took the lead,because the people stepped forward of their own free will,Lord, be praised!
Listen, you kings!Pay attention, you princes!I, yes I, will sing to the Lord.I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
Lord, when you went out of ,when you marched out of the fields of ,the earth trembled, and the sky dripped;yes, the clouds dripped water.The mountains shook in the Lord’s presence,Sinai too, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
In the days of the son of Anath,in the days of Jael, the highways were empty.Travelers went by the back paths.Israel’s rulers were gone,gone until I, Deborah, arose,until I arose, a mother in Israel.
They chose new gods.Then war was at the gates.Was there a shield or a spear in sightamong forty thousand in Israel?My heart turns toward the governors of Israel,who stepped forward of their own free will among the people.Praise the Lord!
Speak up, you who ride on white donkeys,you who sit on rich carpets,and you who travel on foot.Far from the noise of the archers,at the places where they draw water,there they will tell again of the right things the Lord has done,the right things he has done as ruler in Israel.Then the Lord’s people went down to the gates.
The song went on:
“Wake up, wake up, Deborah!Wake up, wake up, sing a song!Get up, Barak, and lead your captives away,you son of Abinoam.”Then what was left of the nobles and the people came down.The Lord came down for me against the mighty.
Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim,following you, , with your people.Governors came down from ,and Zebulun sent men who hold the staff of command.
The princes of were with Deborah.Issachar was there, and so was Barak.They rushed into the valley right behind him.By the streams of people made big plans.Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,to listen to the whistling for the flocks?By the streams of Reubenhearts searched long and hard.
stayed across the .Why did stay in his ships? sat still by the harbor on the seaand lived by his creeks.Zebulun was a people who risked their lives and faced death,and Naphtali too, on the high places of the field.
Then the song told of the battle:
The kings came and fought.Then the kings of Canaan foughtat , by the waters of .They took no silver as plunder.
From the sky the stars fought.From the paths they travel, they fought against Sisera.The river Kishon swept the enemy away,that ancient river, the river Kishon.My soul, march on with strength!
Then the horses’ hoofs poundedas their strong horses pranced and pranced.
“Curse ,” said the .“Curse its people bitterly,because they didn’t come to help the Lord,to help the Lord against the mighty.”
Then the song turned to Jael and Sisera:
Of all women, Jael will be the most blessed,the wife of Heber the Kenite;of the women in tents, she will be the most blessed.He asked for water.She gave him milk.She brought him butter in a dish fit for a lord.
She reached her hand out to the tent peg,her right hand to the workmen’s hammer.With the hammer she struck Sisera.She struck through his head.Yes, she pierced the side of his head and struck through it.At her feet he sank down, he fell, he lay there.At her feet he sank down, he fell.Where he sank down, there he fell, dead.
Sisera’s mother looked out through the window.She cried out through the window’s screen,“Why is his chariot so long in coming?Why are the wheels of his chariots so slow?”Her wise ladies answered her;and she told herself the same:
“Haven’t they found the plunder? Aren’t they dividing it up?A captive woman, two captive women, for every man;for Sisera, plunder of dyed clothes,plunder of dyed clothes, embroidered,dyed clothes embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?”
May all your enemies die like this, Lord!But may those who love him be like the sunas it rises in its strength.
And the land was at peace for forty years.