Judges Chapter 5
The Song of Deborah
1 Deborah and Barak sang that day,
2 “Bless Yahveh!
because the leaders led in Israel,
the people volunteered.
3Hear, you kings; listen, you officials;
I’ll sing to Yahveh;
I’ll praise Israel’s God.
4Yahveh, when you went out from Seir,
when you marched from Edom,
the ground quaked;
the sky dripped;
yes, the clouds dripped water.
5The mountains shook in front of Yahveh;
you, Sinai, shook in front of Israel’s God. Jud 5:1-5
6“In the days of Shamgar Ben-Anath,
in the days of Jael, caravans ceased;
travelers kept to the back roads.
7The rural people ceased in Israel;
they ceased till you arose, Deborah,
as a mother in Israel.
8When the people chose new gods,
war was in the gates.
Not a shield or spear was seen
among 40,000 in Israel.
9My heart goes out to Israel’s commanders,
who volunteered willingly among the people.
Bless Yahveh. Jud 5:6-9
10“Sing, you that ride white donkeys,
who sit on rich carpets
and travel on the highway.
11At the sound of those who separate flocks
by the watering places,
they repeat Yahveh’s triumphs,
the triumphs of his rural people in Israel.
Then Yahveh’s people went down to the gates. Jud 5:10-11
12 “Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, and sing!
Arise, Barak;
lead away your captives, Ben-Abinoam.
13 The remnant of the nobles came down;
Yahveh’s people came down
for him against the powerful.
14 They set out to the valley from Ephraim;
they followed you, Benjamin, with your kin.
The commanders marched down from Machir;
from Zebulun they marched
who carry the marshal’s staff. Jud 5:12-14
15 The princes of Issachar came with Deborah;
as Issachar came so did Barak.
They rushed out to the valley at his heels,
but the clans of Reuben held back.
16 Why did you linger among the sheepfolds?
To hear the piping for the flocks?
There was high resolve
among the clans of Reuben.
.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
Why did Dan stay with his ships?
Asher sat still at the coast by the sea,
and settled down by his landings.
18 Zebulun wass a people that risked their lives;
Naphtali, too, on the high places in the countryside.
Jud 5:15-18
19 “The kings came and fought;
they fought the kings of Canaan
at Taanach by the water of Megiddo.
They got no spoils of silver.
20 The stars fought from the sky;
from their courses they fought Sisera.
21 The current of the Kishon swept them away,
the rushing torrent in the Kishon.
March on, my soul, with confidence!
22 “Then the horses’ hoofs beat loud
with the galloping of steeds. Jud 5:19-22
23 “‘Curse Meroz,’ the angel of Yahveh says;
‘put its people under a severe curse.
They didn’t come to help Yahveh
against the powerful.’
24 May Jael be most fortunate among women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most fortunate among women in the tent.
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk.
She brought him curds in a beautiful bowl.
26 She took a tent peg
and a workman’s hammer;
she struck Sisera a blow,
and crushed his head.
She shattered and pierced his temple.
27 He sank, he fell;
he lay still at her feet.
He sank and fell down dead at her feet. Jud 5:23-27
28 She looked out the window;
Sisera’s mother gazed through the lattice.
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why do the hoof beats with his chariots tarry?’
29 Her wise ladies answer;
no, she answers herself,
30 ‘Aren’t they finding and dividing the spoil—
a young woman or two for every man;
spoil of embroidered dyed work for Sisera,
two pieces of dyed work the spoiler’s neck?’
31 “May all your enemies perish that way, Yahveh!
But may your friends be like the sun
when it rises at it brightest.”
The land had peace for 40 years. Jud 5:28-31