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Judges - Chapter 4

¹ Once Ehud was dead, the Israelites again began doing what is evil in Yahweh's eyes,

² and Yahweh handed them over to Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned at Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Haroshet-ha-Goiim.

³ The Israelites then cried to Yahweh; for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

⁴ Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at the time.

⁵ She used to sit under Deborah's Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for justice.

⁶ She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, 'Has not Yahweh, God of Israel, commanded, "Go! March to Mount Tabor and with you take ten thousand of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun.

⁷ I shall entice Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, to encounter you at the Torrent of Kishon with his chariots and troops; and I shall put him into your power"? '

⁸ Barak replied, 'If you come with me, I shall go; if you will not come, I shall not go, for I do not know how to choose the day when the angel of Yahweh will grant me success.'

⁹ 'I shall go with you then,' she said, 'but, the way you are going about it, the glory will not be yours; for Yahweh will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.' Deborah then stood up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

¹⁰ Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men marched behind him, and Deborah went with him.

¹¹ Heber the Kenite had parted company with the tribe of Kain and with the sons of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses; he had pitched his tent near the Oak of Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh.

¹² Sisera was informed that Barak son of Abinoam had encamped on Mount Tabor.

¹³ Sisera summoned all his chariots -- nine hundred iron chariots -- and all the troops he had, from Harosheth-ha-Goiim to the Torrent of Kishon.

¹⁴ Deborah said to Barak, 'Up! For today is the day when Yahweh has put Sisera into your power. Is not Yahweh marching at your head?' And Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.

¹⁵ At Barak's advance, Yahweh struck terror into Sisera, all his chariots and his entire army. Sisera leapt down from his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁶ Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-Goiim. Sisera's whole army fell by the edge of the sword; not one man was spared.

¹⁷ Sisera meanwhile fled on foot towards the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

¹⁸ Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, 'Stay here, my lord, with me; do not be afraid!' He stayed with her in her tent, and she covered him with a rug.

¹⁹ He said to her, 'Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.' She opened the skin of milk, gave him some to drink and covered him up again.

²⁰ Then he said to her, 'Stand at the tent door, and if anyone comes and questions you -- if he asks, "Is there a man here?" say, "No." '

²¹ But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent-peg and picked up a mallet; she crept up softly to him and drove the peg into his temple right through to the ground. He was lying fast asleep, worn out; and so he died.

²² And now Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, 'Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.' He went into her tent; and there was Sisera dead, with the tent-peg through his temple.

²³ Thus God that day humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.

²⁴ And the Israelites bore down more and more heavily on that king of Canaan, Jabin, until he was utterly destroyed.