The Song of Deborah and Barak

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

² “When long hair hangs loosely in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, bless Yahweh!

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

⁴ Yahweh, when you went down from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down water.

⁵ The mountains trembled¹ before Yahweh, this Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

1. Or “quaked”

⁶ “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the caravans had ceased, ⌞the travelers⌟,¹ ⌞they kept to the byways⌟.²

1. Literally “the ones walking on the paths”
2. Literally “they went on the crooked roads”

⁷ The warriors¹ ceased; they failed to appear in Israel, until I,² Deborah, arose; I³ arose as a mother in Israel.

1. Others interpret this word as referring to the “rural dwellers”
2. Or “you”
3. Or “you”

⁸ God chose new leaders,¹ then war was at the gates; a small shield or a spear was not seen among forty thousand in Israel.

1. ESV, NRSV translate “when new gods were chosen”

⁹ My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, those offering themselves willingly among the people; bless Yahweh!

¹⁰ The riders of white female donkeys, those sitting on saddle blankets, and those going on the way, talk about it!

¹¹ At the sound of those dividing¹ the sheep among the watering places, there they will recount the righteous deeds of Yahweh, the righteous deeds for his warriors² in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.

1. Meaning uncertain; other translations have “archers” (Tanakh), “musicians” (ESV, NRSV) or “singers” (NIV, HCSB)
2. Hebrew “warrior”

¹² “Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak! Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.

¹³ Then the remnant went down to the nobles; the people of Yahweh went down for him¹ against the mighty.

1. Hebrew “me”

¹⁴ From Ephraim 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 And the chiefs¹ in Issachar were with Deborah; and Issachar likewise was with Barak; into the valley ⌞he was sent to get him from behind⌟.² Among the clans of Reuben were great ⌞decisions of the heart⌟.³

1. Hebrew “my chiefs”; ancient translations read “the chiefs”
2. Literally “he was sent at his feet”
3. Or “thoughts of the heart”

¹⁶ Why do you sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the calling sounds of the herds? For the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of the heart.

¹⁷ Gilead has remained¹ 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.

1. Or “stayed”

¹⁸ Zebulun is a people who scorned death, and Naphtali, on the heights of the field.

¹⁹ “The kings came, they fought; then the kings of Canaan fought; at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, they got no plunder in silver.

²⁰ The stars fought from heaven; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

²¹ The wadi¹ torrent of Kishon swept them away, the raging wadi torrent, the wadi torrent of Kishon. March on, my soul, with strength!

1. 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, because of galloping, galloping of his stallions.

²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of Yahweh; ‘curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of Yahweh, to the help of Yahweh against the mighty.’

²⁴ “Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; most blessed is she of women among tent dwellers.

²⁵ He asked for water, and she gave milk; in a drinking bowl for nobles, she brought curds.

²⁶ She reached out her hand to the peg, 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, he fell, he lay. Between her feet he sank down, he fell; Where he sank down, there he fell—⌞dead⌟.¹

1. Literally “devastated”

²⁸ “Through the window she looked down; the mother of Sisera cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot delayed in coming? Why do the hoof beats¹ of his chariot tarry?’

1. Or “steps”

²⁹ The wisest of her ladies answer her; she also answers the question herself:

³⁰ ‘Are they not finding and dividing the plunder? ⌞A bedmate or two bedmates for every man⌟;¹ colorful garments for Sisera, plunder of colorful garments,² beautifully finished colorful garments, on the neck of the plunderer?’

1. Literally “a womb, two wombs for head of every man”
2. Hebrew “garment”

³¹ So 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.