C. Lewis - C. S. Lewis Bible - New Revised Standard Version

11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the other Kenites,[ 11] that is, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had encamped as far away as Elon-bezaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon. 14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day on which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. The LORD is indeed going out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. 15And the LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic[ 12] before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot, 16while Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-ha-goiim. All the army of Sisera fell by the sword; no one was left.

17 Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. 18Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. 20He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’” 21But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. 22Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24Then the hand of the Israelites bore harder and harder on King Jabin of Canaan, until they destroyed King Jabin of Canaan.

5 Then Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:

2“When locks are long in Israel,

when the people offer themselves willingly—

bless[ 13] the LORD!

3“Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes;

to the LORD I will sing,

I will make melody to the LORD, the God of Israel.

4“LORD, when you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the region of Edom,

the earth trembled,

and the heavens poured,

the clouds indeed poured water.

5The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai,

before the LORD, the God of Israel.

6“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, caravans ceased

and travelers kept to the byways.

7The peasantry prospered in Israel,

they grew fat on plunder,

because you arose, Deborah,

arose as a mother in Israel.

8When new gods were chosen,

then war was in the gates.

Was shield or spear to be seen

among forty thousand in Israel?

9My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel

who offered themselves willingly among the people.

Bless the LORD.

10“Tell of it, you who ride on white donkeys,

you who sit on rich carpets[ 14]

and you who walk by the way.

11To the sound of musicians[ 14] at the watering places,

there they repeat the triumphs of the LORD,

the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel.

“Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.

12“Awake, awake, Deborah!

Awake, awake, utter a song!

Arise, Barak, lead away your captives,

O son of Abinoam.

13Then down marched the remnant of the noble;

the people of the LORD marched down for him[ 15] against the mighty.

14From Ephraim they set out[ 16] into the valley,[ 17]

following you, Benjamin, with your kin;

from Machir marched down the commanders,

and from Zebulun those who bear the marshal’s staff;

15the chiefs of Issachar came with Deborah,

and Issachar faithful to Barak;

into the valley they rushed out at his heels.

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

16Why did you tarry among the sheepfolds,

to hear the piping for the flocks?

Among the clans of Reuben

there were great searchings of heart.

17Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan;

and Dan, why did he abide with the ships?

Asher sat still at the coast of the sea,

settling down by his landings.

18Zebulun is a people that scorned death;

Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.

19“The kings came, they fought;

then fought the kings of Canaan,

at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;

they got no spoils of silver.

20The stars fought from heaven,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

21The torrent Kishon swept them away,

the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon.

March on, my soul, with might!

22“Then loud beat the horses’ hoofs

with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.

23“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD,

curse bitterly its inhabitants,

because they did not come to the help of the LORD,

to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

24“Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

of tent-dwelling women most blessed.

25He asked water and she gave him milk,

she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.

26She put her hand to the tent peg

and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;

she struck Sisera a blow,

she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27He sank, he fell,

he lay still at her feet;

at her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell dead.

28“Out of the window she peered,

the mother of Sisera gazed[ 18] through the lattice:

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’

29Her wisest ladies make answer,

indeed, she answers the question herself:

30‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—

A girl or two for every man;

spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,

spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,

two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?’

31“So perish all your enemies, O LORD!

But may your friends be like the sun as it rises in its might.”

And the land had rest forty years.

6 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding places in the mountains, caves and strongholds. 3For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. 4They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in. 6Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.

7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD on account of the Midianites, 8the LORD sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery; 9and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land; 10and I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice.”