The Song of Deborah and Barak
5 And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day:
- 2 when the people willingly offer themselves,
- 3 I will sing to Yahweh;
- I will sing praise to Yahweh,
- 4 when you marched from the region of Edom,
- the earth trembled, the heavens poured down,
- the clouds poured down water.
- 5 [fn] before Yahweh, this Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- 6 in the days of Jael, the caravans had ceased,
- [fn] [fn]
- 7 [fn] ceased; they failed to appear in Israel,
- until I,[fn] Deborah, arose;
- I[fn] arose as a mother in Israel.
- 8 leaders,[fn] then war was at the gates;
- a small shield or a spear was not seen
- among forty thousand in Israel.
- 9 goes out to the commanders of Israel, those offering themselves willingly among the people;
- 10 those sitting on saddle blankets,
- and those going on the way, talk about it!
- 11 those dividing[fn] the sheep among the watering places,
- there they will recount the righteous deeds of Yahweh,
- the righteous deeds for his warriors[fn] in Israel.
- Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.
- 12 Wake up, wake up, sing a song!
- Get up, Barak!
- Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.
- 13 the remnant went down to the nobles; the people of Yahweh went down for him[fn] against the mighty.
- 14 is their root into Amalek, after you, Benjamin, with your family;
- from Makir the commanders went down,
- and from Zebulun those carrying the scepter
- of the military commander.
- 15 [fn] in Issachar were with Deborah; and Issachar likewise was with Barak;
- into the valley[fn]
- Among the clans of Reuben
- were great[fn]
- 16 to hear the calling sounds of the herds?
- For the clans of Reuben,
- there were great searchings of the heart.
- 17 [fn] beyond the Jordan. Why did Dan dwell as a foreigner with ships?
- Asher sat at the coast of the waters,
- and by his coves he has been settling down.
- 18 is a people who scorned death, and Naphtali, on the heights of the field.
- 19 then the kings of Canaan fought;
- at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,
- they got no plunder in silver.
- 20 from their courses they fought against Sisera.
- 21 [fn] torrent of Kishon swept them away, the raging wadi torrent,
- the wadi torrent of Kishon.
- March on, my soul, with strength!
- 22 because of galloping, galloping of his stallions.
- 23 ‘curse bitterly its inhabitants,
- because they did not come to the help of Yahweh,
- to the help of Yahweh against the mighty.’
- 24 the wife of Heber the Kenite;
- most blessed is she of women among tent dwellers.
- 25 and she gave milk; in a drinking bowl for nobles, she brought curds.
- 26 and her right hand for the workman’s hammer;
- and she struck Sisera, crushed his head,
- and she shattered and pierced his temple.
- 27 Between her feet he sank down, he fell;
- Where he sank down, there he fell—[fn]
- 28 the mother of Sisera cried out through the lattice,
- ‘Why is his chariot delayed in coming?
- Why do the hoof beats[fn] of his chariot tarry?’
- 29 she also answers the question herself:
- 30 [fn]
- colorful garments for Sisera,
- plunder of colorful garments,[fn]
- beautifully finished colorful garments,
- on the neck of the plunderer?’
- 31 but those who love him are like the rising sun at its brightest.”
And the land had rest for forty years.