(Exodus 15:1–21)

¹ On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

² “When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the LORD.

³ Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁴ O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.

⁵ The 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, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.

⁷ Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.

⁸ When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.

⁹ My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the LORD!

¹⁰ You who ride white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, ponder

¹¹ the voices of the singers¹ at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers² in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:

1. Or archers or those who divide the sheep
2. Or warriors

¹² ‘Awake, awake, O Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, O Barak, and take hold of your captives, O son of Abinoam!’

¹³ Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

¹⁴ Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; Benjamin came with your people after you. The commanders came down from Machir, the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

¹⁵ The princes of Issachar were with Deborah, and Issachar was with Barak, rushing into the valley at his heels. In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.¹

1. Or much searching of heart; also in verse 16

¹⁶ Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

¹⁷ Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger by the ships? Asher stayed at the coast and remained in his harbors.

¹⁸ Zebulun was a people who risked their lives; Naphtali, too, on the heights of the battlefield.

¹⁹ Kings came and fought; then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they took no plunder of silver.

²⁰ From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon. March on, O my soul, in strength!

²² Then the hooves of horses thundered— the mad galloping of his stallions.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

²⁴ Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

²⁶ She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷ At her feet he collapsed, he fell, there he lay still; at her feet he collapsed, he fell; where he collapsed, there he fell dead.

²⁸ Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice and lamented: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

²⁹ Her wisest ladies answer; indeed she keeps telling herself,

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil— a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

³¹ So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.