Judges 4
1And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
2And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth of the nations.
3And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and for twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
4And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time.
5And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said unto him, Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying,
Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7And I will draw unto you by the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.
8And Barak said unto her, If you will go with me, then I will go: but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.
9And she said, I will surely go with you: nevertheless the journey that you take shall not be for your honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11Now Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent as far as the oak of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the nations to the river of Kishon.
14And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand: is not the LORD gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15And the LORD routed Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera got down from his chariot, and fled away on foot.
16But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, unto Harosheth of the nations: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
17However Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a rug.
19And he said unto her, Give me, I pray you, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a skin of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him.
20Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man does come and inquire of you, and say, Is there any man here? that you shall say, No.
21Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and drove the peg into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the peg was in his temples.
23So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
24And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
Commentaries for Judges 4:0