The Song of Deborah and Barak
1Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
2“When the leaders took the lead in Israel, when the people offered themselves willingly, praise Yahweh!
3Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, to Yahweh I will sing. I will sing praise to Yahweh the God of Israel.
4O Yahweh, when you went forth out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom the earth trembled, the heavens also dripped. Yes, the clouds dripped water.
5The mountains quaked at the presence of Yahweh, even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
6“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael the main roads were unoccupied. The travelers took winding side roads.
7Village life ceased in Israel. They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; until I arose a mother in Israel.
8Israel chose new gods, then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel?
9My heart is toward the leaders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless Yahweh!
10O you who ride on white female donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk on the road, tell of it.
11Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they retell the righteous acts of Yahweh, the righteous acts on behalf of his village life in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.
12Get up, get up, Deborah! Get up, get up, speak forth a song! Stand up, Barak, and “capture your captives,” you son of Abinoam.
13Then a remnant went down against the powerful; the people of Yahweh went down for me against the mighty.
14From Ephraim, whose root was against Amalek, some went down. After you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Out of Machir leaders went down. And from Zebulun, those who handle the officer’s staff.
15The leaders of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak, into the plain they were sent out behind him. Among the divisions of Reuben, there were great deliberations of heart.
16Why did you sit between the campfires listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17Gilead lived beyond the Jordan, and Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the shore of the sea and lived by his harbors.
18Zebulun—a people who risked their lives to the point of death; Naphtali—on the heights of the field.
19Kings came and fought, then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo. They took no plunder of silver.
20From heaven the stars fought. From their courses they fought against Sisera.
21The brook Kishon swept them away, that ancient brook, the brook Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength.
22Then the horse hoofs hammered the ground because of the galloping, the galloping of their mighty ones.
23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of Yahweh. ‘Curse, yes, curse its inhabitants, because they did not come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’
24“Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of women in the tent.
25He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought near to him curds in a princely bowl.
26She reached out her hand for the tent peg and her right hand for the workmen’s hammer, and she hammered Sisera, she shattered his head, she pierced and struck through his temple.
27Between her feet he bowed down, he fell, he lay. Between her feet he bowed down, he fell. Where he bowed down, there he fell—destroyed!
28“Through the window she looked and cried out shrilly— Sisera’s mother—through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so shamefully late? Why are the hoofbeats from his chariots delayed?’
29The wisest of her ladies answered her, yes, she repeats her words to herself,
30‘Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A woman, two women for every warrior; for Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, a spoil of ornate dyed garments, a pair of ornate dyed garments for the necks as spoil?’
31“So let all your enemies perish, O Yahweh, but let those who love him be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest: 40 years.
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