Shared Word Translation
Judges 4
Deborah and Barak
And the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, after Ehud had died. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the nations.
Then the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he oppressed the sons of Israel harshly for twenty years.
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.
She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you? Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his multitude, and I will give him into your hand.”
And 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.” And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the way you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
The LORD Gives Sisera into Barak’s Hand
Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up at his feet, and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak at Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh. It was told to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the nations to the Wadi Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men after him. And the LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into confusion before Barak by the edge of the sword. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the nations, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not even one remained.
Jael Kills Sisera
But Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said, “Turn aside, my lord, come in to me. Do not fear.” He entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ then say, ‘No.’” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and took the hammer in her hand. She went quietly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, while he was fast asleep and exhausted. And he died. And behold, Barak was pursuing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He entered with her, and behold, Sisera lay dead, with the peg in his temple. So God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the sons of Israel on that day. And the hand of the sons of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan until they cut off Jabin king of Canaan.