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that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
2 “When the leaders lead in Israel,
when the people willingly offer themselves—
bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes!
To the Lord I will sing, 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 fields of Edom,
the earth trembled, the heavens poured,
the clouds poured down water.
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord,
even 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 deserted,
and travellers kept to the byways.
7 Village life in Israel ceased,
it ceased until I, Deborah, arose,
arose a mother in Israel.
8 When they chose new gods,
then war was at the gates.
Not a spear or shield was to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel,
with the willing volunteers among the people.
Bless the Lord!
10 “You who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit on saddle blankets,
and you who walk along the road, declare it!
11 Far from the noise of the archers,
there at the watering places,
they recount the righteous acts of the Lord,
the righteous deeds of His warriors in Israel.
“Then the people of the Lord
went down to the city gates.
12 ‘Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, break out in song!
Arise, O Barak!
Take your captives into captivity, O son of Abinoam’.
13 “Then the men who were left
came down with the nobles;
the people of the Lord
came down for me with the warriors.
14 “Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;
Benjamin following you with your people.
From Machir leaders came down,
and from Zebulun those who bear a commanders’ staff.
15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
Issachar indeed was with Barak;
he rushed on foot after him into the valley.
Among the divisions of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,
listening to the playing of pipes for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead stayed across the Jordan;
and Dan, why did he linger with the ships?
Asher remained at the seashore,
and stayed by his landings.
18 Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the death;
Naphtali too, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 “The kings came and they fought.
The kings of Canaan fought
at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,
but they took no spoils of silver.
20 The stars fought from the heavens;
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
that age old torrent, the torrent of Kishon.
March on, O my soul, in strength!
22 “Then the horses hoofs hammered the ground
with the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz’, says the Angel of the Lord.
‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants,
because they did not come to the help of the Lord,
to the Lord against the mighty’.
24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite;
most blessed is she among tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curdled milk in a bowl fit for nobles.
26 She reached out her hand to the tent peg,
and her right hand to the workman’s hammer;
She struck Sisera a blow, 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 the mother of Sisera peered,
through the lattice she cried out,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why so delayed, the clatter of his chariots?’
29 “The wisest of her ladies answered her;
indeed, she returned the answer to herself,
30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?—
a girl, two girls for every warrior;
dyed garments as plunder for Sisera,
plunder of dyed garments embroidered,
two pieces of dyed embroidery for my neck,
—and all this as plunder?’
31 “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord;
but let those who love Him be like the sun
when it rises in its strength.”
Then the land had rest for forty years.