Deborah the 4th Judge of Israel sends for Barak her army commander, Judges 4:9 to 5:31

Deborah sends for Barak

4:9 “Very well,” Deborah said, “I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh, 10 where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite had left the other Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ brother —in—law, and pitched his tent by the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

12 When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. 15 At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.

17 Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite.

18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him.

19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he
told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say
‘No.'”

21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent
peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep,
exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he
died.

22 Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and
Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man
you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with
the tent peg through his temple—dead.

23 On that day God subdued Jabin, the
Canaanite king, before the Israelites. 24 And
the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin, the
Canaanite king, until they destroyed him.

The Song of Deborah

5:1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

2 “When the princes in Israel take the
lead,

when the people willingly offer themselves—

praise the LORD!

3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you
rulers!

I will sing to the LORD, I will sing;

I will make music 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 shook, the heavens poured,

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 roads were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.

7 Village life in Israel ceased,

ceased until I, Deborah, arose,

arose a mother in Israel.

8 When they chose new gods,

war came to the city gates,

and not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,

with the willing volunteers among the people.

Praise the LORD!

10 “You who ride on white donkeys,

sitting on your saddle blankets,

and you who walk along the road, consider

11 the voice of the singers at
the watering places.

They recite the righteous acts of the LORD,

the righteous acts of his warriors in

Israel.

“Then the people of the LORD

went down to the city gates.

12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!

Wake up, wake up, break out in song!

Arise, O Barak!

Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.’

13 “Then the men who were left

came down to the nobles;

the people of the LORD

came to me with the mighty.

14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots
were in Amalek;

Benjamin was with the people who followed you.

From Makir captains came down,

from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.

15 The princes of Issachar were with
Deborah;

yes, Issachar was with Barak,

rushing after him into the valley.

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

16 Why did you stay among the campfires

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.

And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?

Asher remained on the coast

and stayed in his coves.

18 The people of Zebulun risked their
very lives;

so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.

19 “Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,

but they carried off no silver, no plunder.

20 From the heavens the stars fought,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

21 The river Kishon swept them away,

the age-old river, the river Kishon.

March on, my soul; be strong!

22 Then thundered the horses’ hoofs—

galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.

23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the
LORD.

‘Curse its people bitterly,

because they did not come to help the LORD,

to help the LORD against the mighty.’

24 “Most blessed of women be 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 bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27 At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead.

28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s
mother;

behind the lattice she cried out,

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;

indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing
the spoils:

a girl or two for each man,

colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,

colorful garments embroidered,

highly embroidered garments for my neck—

all this as plunder?’

31 “So may all your enemies perish, O
LORD!

But may they who love you be like the sun

when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years.
Judges 5:1-31
Also see Hebrews 11:32


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