Judges 5

The Song of Deborah and Barak

¹And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day:

²“When long hair hangs loosely in Israel,

³Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes!

⁴Yahweh, when you went down from Seir,

the earth trembled, the heavens poured down,

⁵The mountains trembled before Yahweh,[#Or “quaked”]

⁶“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

⁷The warriors ceased;[#Others interpret this word as referring to the “rural dwellers”]

until I, Deborah, arose;

⁸God chose new leaders,[#ESV, NRSV translate “when new gods were chosen”]

a small shield or a spear was not seen

⁹My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel,

¹⁰The riders of white female donkeys,

¹¹At the sound of those dividing the sheep[#Meaning uncertain; other translations have “archers” (Tanakh), “musicians” (ESV, NRSV) or “singers” (NIV, HCSB)]

Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.

¹²“Wake up, wake up, Deborah!

Get up, Barak!

¹³Then the remnant went down to the nobles;

¹⁴From Ephraim is their root into Amalek,

from Makir the commanders went down,

¹⁵And the chiefs in Issachar were with Deborah;[#Hebrew “my chiefs”; ancient translations read “the chiefs”]

Among the clans of Reuben

¹⁶Why do you sit among the sheepfolds,

For the clans of Reuben,

¹⁷Gilead has remained beyond the Jordan.[#Or “stayed”]

Asher sat at the coast of the waters,

¹⁸Zebulun is a people who scorned death,

¹⁹“The kings came, they fought;

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,

²⁰The stars fought from heaven;

²¹The wadi torrent of Kishon swept them away,[#A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season]

²²“Then the hooves of the horse beat loudly,

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of Yahweh;

because they did not come to the help of Yahweh,

²⁴“Most blessed of women is Jael,

²⁵He asked for water, and she gave milk;

²⁶She reached out her hand to the peg,

and she struck Sisera, crushed his head,

²⁷Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay.

²⁸“Through the window she looked down;

‘Why is his chariot delayed in coming?

²⁹The wisest of her ladies answer her;

³⁰‘Are they not finding and dividing the plunder?

colorful garments for Sisera,

beautifully finished colorful garments,

³¹So may all your enemies perish, O Yahweh,

but those who love him are like the rising sun at its brightest.”

And the land had rest for forty years.