Judges 4

1And the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh after Ehud died.

2So Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim.

3Then the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, because he had nine hundred iron chariots, and he oppressed the sons of Israel harshly for twenty years.

4Deborah, a woman, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

5She used to sit under the palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.

6She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded: ‘Go, draw up to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun’?”

7And I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and his multitude, to you at the Wadi Kishon, and I will give him into your hand.

8Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

9And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the honor will not be yours on the way that you are going, for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10Then Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up following him, and Deborah went up with him.

11Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaannannim, which is near Kedesh.

12And they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

13Then Sisera called together all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth-haggoyim to the Wadi Kishon.

14Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day on which Yahweh has given Sisera into your hand. Has not Yahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.

15And Yahweh threw Sisera, all his chariots, and all his army into confusion before Barak by the sword. Then Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

16And Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth of the nations, and all Sisera’s army fell by the edge of the sword; not even one was left.

17But Sisera 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.

18Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

19And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened the skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him.

20And he said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, saying, ‘Is there a man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’”

21Then Jael, the wife of Heber, took a tent peg and put a hammer in her hand, and she went to him quietly and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground. Now he was fast asleep and exhausted, and he died.

22And look, Barak was pursuing Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went in to her, and look, Sisera was lying there dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

23So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the sons of Israel.

24And the hand of the sons of Israel went on, growing stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they cut off Jabin king of Canaan.