4:1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of
the LORD, after Ehud was dead.
4:2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan
that reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose host [was] Sisera,
who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
4:3 And the children of Israel cried to the LORD; for he had
nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily
oppressed the children of Israel.
4:4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged
Israel at that time.
4:5 And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah
and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came
up to her for judgment.
4:6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam from
Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Hath not the LORD God of
Israel commanded, [saying], Go, and draw towards mount Tabor,
and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of
Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulun?
4:7 And I will draw to thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the
captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude;
and I will deliver him into thy hand.
4:8 And Barak said to her, if thou wilt go with me, then I will
go: but if thou wilt not go with me, [then] I will not go.
4:9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding
the journey that thou takest shall not be for thy honor; for
the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah
arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
4:10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he
went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up
with him.
4:11 Now Heber the Kenite, [who was] of the children of Hobab
the father-in-law of Moses, had severed himself from the
Kenites, and pitched his tent to the plain of Zaanaim, which
[is] by Kedesh.
4:12 And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had
gone up to mount Tabor.
4:13 And Sisera collected all his chariots, [even] nine hundred
chariots of iron, and all the people that [were] with him, from
Harosheth of the Gentiles to the river of Kishon.
4:14 And Deborah said to Barak, Arise, for this [is] the day in
which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thy hand: hath not
the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount
Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
4:15 And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all [his] chariots,
and all [his] host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so
that Sisera alighted from [his] chariot, and fled away on his
feet.
4:16 But Barak pursued the chariots, and the host, to Harosheth
of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge
of the sword; [and] there was not a man left.
4:17 Howbeit, 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.
4:18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in,
my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in to
her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
4:19 And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to
drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and
gave him drink, and covered him.
4:20 Again he said to her, stand in the door of the tent, and it
shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say,
Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
4:21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took
a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and smote the
nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he
was fast asleep, and weary. So he died.
4:22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet
him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom
thou seekest. And when he came into her [tent], behold, Sisera
lay dead, and the nail [was] in his temples.
4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before
the children of Israel.
4:24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and
prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had
destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
|