Deborah and Barak Defeat Sisera
Deborah judges Israel from under a palm between Ramah and Bethel — the only woman among the judges, and the only one shown holding court. She summons Barak and relays the order to take ten thousand men to Mount Tabor against Sisera, commander of nine hundred iron chariots. Barak agrees on one condition: only if she goes with him. She does, with the warning that the honour of the victory will then go to a woman.
The chariots are bogged down when the Kishon floods and Sisera flees on foot. He takes refuge in the tent of Jael, who gives him milk, covers him, and drives a tent peg through his temple while he sleeps.
The prose account is followed by the Song of Deborah, one of the oldest poems in the Bible, which ends with Sisera's mother at the window waiting for a son who will not come.
Where in scripture
[1] The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, when Ehud was dead. [2] Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles. [3] The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. [4] Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. [5] She lived under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. …
Judges 4:1–24 — opening verses
[1] Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, [2] “Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Yahweh! [3] “Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to Yahweh. I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel. [4] “Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water. [5] The mountains quaked Yahweh’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel. [6] “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways. …
Judges 5:1–31 — opening verses
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
