1   After Ehud's death the Israelites once again did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord, 2   so he sold them to Jabin the Canaanite king, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles. 3   The Israelites cried to the Lord for help, because Sisera had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed Israel harshly for twenty years. 4   At that time Deborah wife of Lappidoth, ^note a prophetess, was judge in Israel. 5   It was her custom to sit beneath the Palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her for justice.

Israel under the judges 6   She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, ‘These are the commands of the Lord the God of Israel: “Go and draw ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun and bring them with you to Mount Tabor, 7   and I will draw Sisera, Jabin's commander, to the Torrent of Kishon with his chariots and all his rabble, and there I will deliver them into your hands.”’ 8   Barak answered her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you will not go, neither will I.’ 9   ‘Certainly I will go with you,’ she said, ‘but this venture will bring you no glory, because the Lord will leave Sisera to fall into the hands of a woman.’ 10   So Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh and marched up with ten thousand men, and Deborah went with him.

11   Now Heber the Kenite had parted company with the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, and he had pitched his tent at Elon-bezaanannim near Kedesh.

12   Word was brought to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor; 13   so he summoned all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and his troops, from Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles to the Torrent of Kishon. 14   Then Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! This day the Lord gives Sisera into your hands. Already the Lord has gone out to battle before you.’ So Barak came charging down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men at his back. 15   The Lord put Sisera to rout with all his chariots and his army before Barak's onslaught; but Sisera himself dismounted from his chariot and fled on foot. 16   Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth, and the whole army was put to the sword and perished; not a man was left alive. 17   Meanwhile Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, because Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite were at peace. 18   Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Come in here, my lord, come in; do not be afraid.’ So he went into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. 19   He said to her, ‘Give me some water to drink; I am thirsty.’ She opened a skin full of milk, gave him a drink and covered him up again. 20   He said to her, ‘Stand at the tent door, and if anybody comes and asks if someone is here, say No.’ 21   But Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-peg, picked up a hammer, crept up to him, and drove the peg into his skull as he lay sound asleep. His brains oozed out on the ground, his limbs twitched, and he died. 22   When Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, ‘Come, I will show you the man you are looking for.’ He went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with the tent-peg in his skull. 23   That day God gave victory to the Israelites over Jabin king of Canaan, 24   and they pressed home their attacks upon that king of Canaan until they had made an end of him.

Israel under the judges

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