Juges 4

Jabin and Sisera oppress Israel

¹After Ehud had died, the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. ²So the LORD sold them into the power of Jabin, king of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. ³The Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had 900 iron chariots and had oppressed the Israelites harshly for twenty years.

Deborah calls Barak to battle

⁴Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.^{a 5}She used to hold court under the Palm of Deborah, in the hill country of Ephraim between Ramah and Bethel, and the Israelites came up to her to have their disputes decided. ⁶She sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She told him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given you this command: ‘Go, lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. ⁷I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, out to meet you at the Kishon River, with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.’” ⁸Barak answered her, “If you go with me, I will go. But if you do not go with me, I will not go.”^{b 9}“I will certainly go with you,” she said. “But on the road you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman.” So Deborah set out with Barak for Kedesh. ¹⁰Barak called out the men of Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and 10,000 men marched up behind him. Deborah went up with him too. ¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far away as the great tree in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.^{c 12}Word reached Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor.

Sisera’s army at the Kishon

¹³So Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 iron chariots, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the Kishon River. ¹⁴Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! This is the day when the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Is it not the LORD who has gone out ahead of you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. ¹⁵The LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into panic before Barak’s attack with the sword. Sisera got down from his chariot and ran away on foot. ¹⁶Barak chased the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth-hagoyim, and Sisera’s whole army fell by the sword. Not one man was left. ¹⁷Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite were at peace. ¹⁸Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord, come in here with me. Do not be afraid.” So he went into the tent with her, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹He said to her, “Please let me have a little water to drink. I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ tell him, ‘No.’” ²¹But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, picked up a hammer, and crept up to him quietly. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground. He was fast asleep from exhaustion, and he died. ²²Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said to him, “I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead, the tent peg in his temple. ²³So on that day God humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites. ²⁴And the power of the Israelites pressed harder and harder against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed him.