Judges 5

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
In the days of Jael, the highways ^[c]were deserted,
And travelers ^[d]went by ^[e]roundabout ways.
⁷ “The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Until I arose, a mother in Israel.
⁸ “New gods were chosen;
Then war was in the gates.
Not a shield or a spear was seen
Among forty thousand in Israel.
⁹ “My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel,
The volunteers among the people;
Bless the Lord!
¹⁰ “You who ride on ^[f]white donkeys,
You who sit on rich carpets,
And you who travel on the road—^[g]sing!
¹¹ “At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places,
There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord,
The righteous deeds for His ^[h]peasantry in Israel.
Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates.

¹² “Awake, awake, Deborah;
Awake, awake, ^[i]sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.
¹³ “Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors.
¹⁴ “From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down,
Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;
From Machir commanders came down,
And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of ^[j]office.
¹⁵ “And the ^[k]princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As was Issachar, so was Barak;
Into the valley they rushed at his ^[l]heels;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
¹⁶ “Why did you sit among the ^[m]sheepfolds,
To hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great searchings of heart.
¹⁷ “Gilead ^[n]remained across the Jordan;
And why did Dan stay in ships?
Asher sat at the seashore,
And ^[o]remained by its landings.
¹⁸ “Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,
And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

¹⁹ “The kings came and fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan
At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo;
They took no plunder in silver.
²⁰ “The stars fought from heaven,
From their courses they fought against Sisera.
²¹ “The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon.
O my soul, march on with strength.
²² “Then the horses’ hoofs beat
From the dashing, the dashing of his ^[p]valiant steeds.
²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord,
‘Utterly curse its inhabitants;
Because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’

²⁴ “Most blessed of women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Most blessed is she of women in the tent.
²⁵ “He asked for water and she gave him milk;
In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
²⁶ “She reached out her hand for the tent peg,
And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.
Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head;
And she shattered and pierced his temple.
²⁷ “Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;
Between her feet he bowed, he fell;
Where he bowed, there he fell ^[q]dead.

²⁸ “Out of the window she looked and lamented,
The mother of Sisera through the ^[r]lattice,
‘Why does his chariot delay in coming?
Why do the ^[s]hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’
²⁹ “Her wise princesses would answer her,
Indeed she repeats her words to herself,
³⁰ ‘Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil?
A maiden, two maidens for every warrior;
To Sisera a spoil of dyed work,
A spoil of dyed work embroidered,
Dyed work of double embroidery on the ^[t]neck of the spoiler?’
³¹ “Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord;
But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”