Judges 3: 12 - 5: 31
| 12The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. 13He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. 14The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 15But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a saviour for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he wore it under his clothing on his right thigh. 17He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18When Ehud had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19But he himself turned back from the stone idols that were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” |
| The king said, “Keep silence!” All who stood by him left him. |
| 20Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” He arose out of his seat. 21Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body. 22The handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind. 23Then Ehud went out onto the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them. |
| 24After he had gone, his servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room.” 25They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn’t open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the floor. |
| 26Ehud escaped while they waited, passed beyond the stone idols, and escaped to Seirah. 27When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he led them. |
| 28He said to them, “Follow me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” They followed him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn’t allow any man to pass over. 29They struck at that time about ten thousand men of Moab, every strong man and every man of valour. No man escaped. 30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years. |
| 31After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel. |
| 1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, when Ehud was dead. 2The LORD 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. 3The children of Israel cried to the LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. 4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5She 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 judgement. 6She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7I will draw to you, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into your hand.’” |
| 8Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” |
| 9She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honour; for the LORD will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. |
| 10Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; and Deborah went up with him. 11Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. 12They told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to Mount Tabor. 13Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon. |
| 14Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15The LORD confused Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled away on his feet. 16But Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. |
| 17However Sisera fled away on his feet 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. 18Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; don’t be afraid.” He came in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. |
| 19He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” |
| She opened a container of milk, and gave him a drink, and covered him. |
| 20He said to her, “Stand in the door of the tent, and if any man comes and enquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’” |
| 21Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep; so he fainted and died. 22Behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” He came to her; and behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent peg was in his temples. 23So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day. 24The hand of the children of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. |
| 1Then 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, the LORD! |
| 3“Hear, you kings! |
| Give ear, you princes! |
| I, even I, will sing to the LORD. |
| I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 4“LORD, 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. |
| 5The mountains quaked at the LORD’s presence, |
| even Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 6“In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, |
| in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. |
| The travellers walked through byways. |
| 7The rulers ceased in Israel. |
| They ceased until I, Deborah, arose; |
| Until I arose a mother in Israel. |
| 8They chose new gods. |
| Then war was in the gates. |
| Was there a shield or spear seen amongst forty thousand in Israel? |
| 9My heart is towards the governors of Israel, |
| who offered themselves willingly amongst the people. |
| Bless the LORD! |
| 10“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, |
| you who sit on rich carpets, |
| and you who walk by the way. |
| 11Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, |
| there they will rehearse the LORD’s righteous acts, |
| the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. |
| “Then the LORD’s people went down to the gates. |
| 12‘Awake, awake, Deborah! |
| Awake, awake, utter a song! |
| Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam.’ |
| 13“Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. |
| The LORD came down for me against the mighty. |
| 14Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, |
| after you, Benjamin, amongst your peoples. |
| Governors come down out of Machir. |
| Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun. |
| 15The princes of Issachar were with Deborah. |
| As was Issachar, so was Barak. |
| They rushed into the valley at his feet. |
| By the watercourses of Reuben, |
| there were great resolves of heart. |
| 16Why did you sit amongst the sheepfolds? |
| To hear the whistling for the flocks? |
| At the watercourses of Reuben, |
| there were great searchings of heart. |
| 17Gilead lived beyond the Jordan. |
| Why did Dan remain in ships? |
| Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, |
| and lived by his creeks. |
| 18Zebulun was a people that jeopardised their lives to the death; |
| Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. |
| 19“The kings came and fought, |
| then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. |
| They took no plunder of silver. |
| 20From the sky the stars fought. |
| From their courses, they fought against Sisera. |
| 21The river Kishon swept them away, |
| that ancient river, the river Kishon. |
| My soul, march on with strength. |
| 22Then the horse hoofs stamped because of the prancing, |
| the prancing of their strong ones. |
| 23‘Curse Meroz,’ said the LORD’s angel. |
| ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, |
| because they didn’t come to help the LORD, |
| to help the LORD against the mighty.’ |
| 24“Jael shall be blessed above women, |
| the wife of Heber the Kenite; |
| blessed shall she be above women in the tent. |
| 25He asked for water. |
| She gave him milk. |
| She brought him butter in a lordly dish. |
| 26She put her hand to the tent peg, |
| and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. |
| With the hammer she struck Sisera. |
| She struck through his head. |
| Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples. |
| 27At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. |
| At her feet he bowed, he fell. |
| Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. |
| 28“Through the window she looked out, and cried: |
| Sisera’s mother looked through the lattice. |
| ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? |
| Why do the wheels of his chariots wait?’ |
| 29Her wise ladies answered her, |
| Yes, she returned answer to herself, |
| 30‘Have they not found, have they not divided the plunder? |
| A lady, two ladies to every man; |
| to Sisera a plunder of dyed garments, |
| a plunder of dyed garments embroidered, |
| of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the plunder?’ |
| 31“So let all your enemies perish, LORD, |
| but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” |
| Then the land had rest forty years. |
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