Judges 5:10-29

¹⁰You people riding white donkeys, sitting on comfortable blankets, traveling down the road, notice

¹¹what people are talking about as they gather at the watering holes. They describe the Lord's just acts and those of his warriors in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went to the town gates.

¹²‘Wake up, Deborah, wake up! Wake up, wake up, sing a song! Get up, Barak! Capture your prisoners, son of Abinoam.’

¹³The survivors went to attack the nobles, the people of the Lord went to attack the powerful.

¹⁴Some came from Ephraim, a land that used to belong to the Amalekites; the tribe of Benjamin followed you with its men. Commanders came Makir; from Zebulun came those who carry a military officer's staff.

¹⁵The leaders of Issachar supported Deborah and Barak; they raced into the valley following Barak. But the tribe of Reuben was very undecided.

¹⁶Why did you stay at home in the sheepfolds, listening to shepherds whistling for their flocks? The tribe of Reuben really couldn't decide what to do.

¹⁷Gilead remained on the other side of Jordan. Dan stayed with his ships. Asher sat still on the seacoast, not moving from his ports.

¹⁸The people of Zebulun risked their lives; as did Naphtali on the high battlefields.

¹⁹Kings came and fought, the Canaanite kings fought at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo, but they didn't get any silver plunder.

²⁰The stars fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

²¹The Kishon River swept them away—the old river turned into a raging torrent! I bravely march on!

²²Then the horses' hooves flailed loudly, his stallions stampeded.

²³‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the Lord. ‘Totally curse those who live there, for they refused to come help the Lord, to help the Lord against the powerful enemies.’

²⁴Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite is to be praised the most among women. She deserves praise above all other women who live in tents.

²⁵He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a bowl fit for nobles she brought him buttermilk.

²⁶With one hand she picked up the tent peg, and with her right hand she held a workman's hammer. She hit Sisera and smashed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

²⁷At her feet he collapsed, he fell, he lay motionless. At her feet he collapsed, he fell; where he collapsed, there he fell, his life plundered from him.

²⁸Sisera's mother looked out from the window. Through the latticed window she cried out, ‘Why is his chariot taking so long to come? Why is the sound of his chariot arriving so delayed?’

²⁹The wisest of her ladies tells her, and she repeats the same words to herself,