CHAPTER 4
So the LORD
sold them
into the hands
of Jabin
king
of Canaan,
who
reigned
in Hazor.
The commander
of his forces
was Sisera,
who
lived
in Harosheth-hagoyim.
Then the Israelites
cried out
to
the LORD,
because
Jabin had
nine
hundred
chariots
of iron,
and he
had harshly
oppressed
the Israelites
for twenty
years.
And she
would sit
under
the Palm
of Deborah
between
Ramah
and Bethel
in the hill country
of Ephraim,
where the Israelites
would go up
to her
for judgment.
She summoned
Barak
son
of Abinoam
from Kedesh
in Naphtali
and said
to him,
“Has not
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
commanded you:
‘Go,
and march
to Mount
Tabor,
taking
with you
ten
thousand
men
of Naphtali
and Zebulun?
And I will draw out
Sisera
the commander
of Jabin’s
army,
his chariots,
and his troops
to
the River
Kishon,
and I will deliver him
into your hands.’”
Barak
said
to her,
“If
you will go
with me,
I will go;
but if
you will not
go
with me,
I will not
go.”
“I will certainly go
with you,”
Deborah replied,
“but
the road
you are taking
will bring you
no
honor,
because
the LORD
will be selling
Sisera
into the hand
of a woman.”
So Deborah
got up
and went
with
Barak
to Kedesh,
where he
summoned
Zebulun
and Naphtali;
ten
thousand
men
followed
him,
and Deborah
also went
with him.
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.
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
the LORD
has delivered
Sisera
into your hands.
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.
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 went
into 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.
And the hand
of the Israelites
grew stronger
and stronger
against
Jabin
king
of Canaan
until
they destroyed
him.