The Judges & Ruth

Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor,

he summoned all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon.

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?” So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

Then Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”

But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg through his temple.

On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.

And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

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

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

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

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.

The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.

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

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

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

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

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